Petrarch was an initiate into the Fedeli d’Amore. He wrote a few hundred sonnets mostly to Laura, his secret love. The initiatic theme of Sonnet 191 is revealed by the comparison of “seeing God” to seeing his “lady”. She satiates his longing, his Sehnsucht, for God. The very sight of her is reflected in his Heart; knowing her is Knowledge of the Heart. She makes his thoughts taste sweet, satisfying all his other hopes and wishes. She is his secret love.

Just as eternal life is seeing God,
longing for nothing greater, no longer longing,
so I’m made happy, my lady, by seeing you
in this brief and fragile life of mine.

I never saw you as lovely as today,
if my eyes truly reflect my heart:
sweet in my thought the hour, and blessed,
overcoming every other hope and wish.

And if its flight were not so fast,
I’d ask no more: if there are creatures
that live only on air, and such things believed,

others on water or fire, their taste and touch
sated by things deprived of sweetness,
then why not I on the dear sight of you?