THE SIREN
by: Gustavo Adolfo Becquer (1836-1870)
- momentary indiscretion,
- And the vision of your fluttering lids
- Is burned forever in my mind
- Like a dark spot, edged in fire,
- For staring at the sun.
- Now, wherever I look,
- I'm haunted by those flaring pupils,
- But it's only your afterimage, not you,
- Your sunspot eyes and nothing more.
- Alone in my room, I stare
- At the ceiling and try to forget,
- But even when I sleep, I feel your phantom gaze,
- Doe-eyed and fluttering.
- I know there are things in the night
- That call unwary dreamers to their doom.
- Still, I am drawn to you,
- To your eyes edged in fire,
- Though where they lead I do not know.
- --Translated by Walter Wykes
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