Petrarch - Sonnet CXIX lyrics

HE PRAYS HER EITHER TO WELCOME OR DISMISS HIM AT ONCE Fiercer than tiger, savager than bear, In human guise an angel form appears, Who between fear and hope, from smiles to tears So tortures me that doubt becomes despair. Ere long if she nor welcomes me, nor frees, But, as her wont, between the two retains, By the sweet poison circling through my veins, My life, O Love! will soon be on its lees. No longer can my virtue, worn and frail With such severe vicissitudes, contend, At once which burn and freeze, make red and pale: By flight it hopes at length its grief to end, As one who, hourly failing, feels d**h nigh: Powerless he is indeed who cannot even die! Macgregor.