Petrarch, Il Canzoniere, #90.
Lecture Topics:- The lady's divine appearance
- Love everlasting
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1 She let her gold hair scatter in the breeze
2 that twined it in a thousand sweet knots,
3 and wavering light, beyond measure, would burn
4 in those beautiful eyes, which are now so dim:
5 and it seemed to me her face wore the colour
6 of pity, I do not know whether false or true:
7 I who had the lure of love in my breast,
8 what wonder if I suddenly caught fire?
9 Her way of moving was no mortal thing,
10 but of angelic form: and her speech
11 rang higher than a mere human voice.
12 A celestial spirit, a living sun
13 was what I saw: and if she is not such now,
14 the wound's not healed, although the bow is slack.
14: "the wound's not healed, although the bow is slack": — The "bow" is Cupid's, and the "wound" was made when Petrarch saw Laura and was struck with Cupid's arrow.