Desire in the young man is of a different order, intense but also idealized and Platonic in a way which male Petrarchists writing about women often attempt but seldom achieve. Shakespeare calls his young man "sweet boy" (108, 5) and alludes occasionally to "rosie lips and cheeks" (116, 9), but is otherwise restrained and abstract.
The speaker's longing for the young man is marked by an elevated and chaste quality, differing from more passionate expressions often found in male Petrarchan poetry about women.