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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNETS TO LAURA IN LIFE: 104 by PETRARCH

First Line: I FIND NO PEACE AND BEAR NO ARMS FOR WAR
Last Line: MY LADY, THUS I AM BECAUSE OF YOU.

I find no peace and bear no arms for war,
I fear, I hope: I burn yet shake with chill;
I fly the Heavens, huddle to earth's floor,
Embrace the world yet all I grasp is nil.

Love will not close nor shut my prison's door
Nor claim me his nor leave me to my will;
He slays me not yet holds me evermore;
Would have me lifeless yet bound to my will.

Eyeless I see and tongueless I protest,
And long to perish while I succor seek;
Myself I hate and would another woo.

I feed on grief, I laugh with sob-racked breast,
And death and life alike to me are bleak:
My lady, thus I am because of you.



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