Read "L' Aura E L' Odore E 'L Refrigerio E L' Ombra" by Francesco Petrarca online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
HER OWN VIRTUES IMMORTALISE HER IN HEAVEN, AND HIS PRAISES ON EARTH.
The air and scent, the comfort and the shade / Of my sweet laurel, and its flowery sight, / That to my weary life gave rest and light, / Death, spoiler of the world, has lowly laid.
As when the moon our sun's eclipse has made, / My lofty light has vanish'd so in night; / For aid against himself I Death invite; / With thoughts so dark does Love my breast invade.
Thou didst but sleep, bright lady, a brief sleep, / In bliss amid the chosen spirits to wake, / Who gaze upon their God, distinct and near: / And if my verse shall any value keep, / Preserved and praised 'mid noble minds to make / Thy name, its memory shall be deathless here.
MACGREGOR.
The fragrant gale, and the refreshing shade / Of my sweet laurel, and its verdant form, / That were my shelter in life's weary storm, / Have felt the power that makes all nature fade: / Now has my light been lost in gloomy shade, / E'en as the sun behind his sister's form: / I call for Death to free me from Death's storm, / But Love descends and brings me better aid! / He tells me, lady, that one moment's sleep / Alone was thine, and then thou didst awake / Among the elect, and in thy Maker's arms: / And if my verse oblivion's power can keep / Aloof, thy name its place on earth-will take / Where Genius still will dote upon thy charms!
MOREHEAD.