Petrarch - Sonnet LXXXIX lyrics

HE RELATES TO HIS FRIEND SENNUCCIO HIS UNHAPPINESS, AND THE VARIED MOOD OF LAURA To thee, Sennuccio, fain would I declare, To sadden life, what wrongs, what woes I find: Still glow my wonted flames; and, though resign'd To Laura's fickle will, no change I bear. All humble now, then haughty is my fair; Now meek, then proud; now pitying, then unkind: Softness and tenderness now sway her mind; Then do her looks disdain and anger wear. Here would she sweetly sing, there sit awhile, Here bend her step, and there her step retard; Here her bright eyes my easy heart ensnared; There would she speak fond words, here lovely smile; There frown contempt;—such wayward cares I prove By night, by day; so wills our tyrant Love! Anon. 1777. Alas, Sennuccio! would thy mind could frame What now I suffer! what my life's drear reign; Consumed beneath my heart's continued pain, At will she guides me—yet am I the same. Now humble—then doth pride her soul inflame; Now harsh—then gentle; cruel—kind again; Now all reserve—then borne on frolic's vein; Disdain alternates with a milder claim. Here once she sat, and there so sweetly sang; Here turn'd to look on me, and lingering stood; There first her beauteous eyes my spirit stole: And here she smiled, and there her accents rang, Her speaking face here told another mood. Thus Love, our sovereign, holds me in control. Wollaston.