Sonnet CXCIX
SONNET CXCIX.
Lasso! Amor mi trasporta ov' io non voglio.
HE EXCUSES HIMSELF FOR VISITING LAURA TOO OFTEN, AND LOVING HER TOO MUCH.
Alas! Love bears me where I would not go,And well I see how duty is transgress'd,And how to her who, queen-like, rules my breast,More than my wont importunate I grow.[Pg 207]Never from rocks wise sailor guarded soHis ship of richest merchandise possess'd,As evermore I shield my bark distress'dFrom shocks of her hard pride that would o'erthrowTorrents of tears, fierce winds of infinite sighs—For, in my sea, nights horrible and darkAnd pitiless winter reign—have driven my bark,Sail-less and helm-less where it shatter'd lies,Or, drifting at the mercy of the main,Trouble to others bears, distress to me and pain.
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