Explore "He Bewails his Double Loss in the Deaths of Laura, and of Colonna" by Francesco Petrarca on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Fall'n that proud Column, fall'n that Laurel tree, / Whose shelter once relieved my wearied mind; / I'm reft of what I ne'er again shall find, / Though ransack'd every shore and every sea: / Double the treasure death has torn from me, / In which life's pride was with its pleasure join'd; / Not eastern gems, nor the world's wealth combined, / Can give it back, nor land, nor royalty.
But, if so fate decrees, what can I more, / Than with unceasing tears these eyes bedew, / Abase my visage, and my lot deplore? / Ah, what is life, so lovely to the view! / How quickly in one little morn is lost / What years have won with labour and with cost!