Once Did I Love: A Petrarchan Sonnet

Once Did I Love: A Petrarchan Sonnet

By Elisabetta Lucia Portinari

(Please do not use without her permission.)

Once did I love and once did I despair,

My love was kind yet did not know my heart,

I knew not then nor now the lover’s art,

My eyes alone could voice my fervent prayer.

Oh golden youth, so kind and good and fair,

I pray you did not see me fall apart,

Your every smile and laugh a rending dart,

Your arms around another past compare.

The years have passed since I my love did see,

We’ve grown apart in distance and in mind,

Though he has changed, and I, he still is kind,

His lady love my heart cannot resent,

My love unknown, my love does set us free,

If he is well, then well am I content.