Best Petrarch Poems

Petrarch the poet invented a sonnet
but to himself he kept it secret
Then in England a version came
for Surrey&Wyatt claimed his fame...

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QUIET murmurs where we sat
and spoke about it

How the world is losing love
and kindness

You told me you loved me
and now there are tears.

I may not always see you
and sometimes we doubt it

Angels above will surely show it
and a single touch shows me
what I'd be without...

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PETRARCH TRANSLATIONS

Sonnet XIV
by Petrarch
translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Lust, gluttony and idleness conspire
to banish every virtue from mankind, 
replaced by evil in his treacherous mind, 
thus robbing man of his Promethean fire, 
till his nature, overcome by dark desire, 
extinguishes the light pure heaven refined.
Thus the...

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"Cantus Troili" from "Troilus and Criseyde"
by Petrarch
translation by Geoffrey Chaucer
modernization by Michael R. Burch

If there’s no love, O God, why then, so low?
And if love is, what thing, and which, is he?
If love is good, whence comes my dismal woe?
If wicked, love’s a wonder unto...

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