ON THE DEATH OF CATARINA DE ATTAYDA
by: Luis Vas de Camões
(1524-1580)
- HOSE charming
eyes within whose starry sphere
- Love whilom sat, and smiled the hours away,--
- Those braids of light, that shamed the beams of day,--
- That hand benignant, and that heart sincere,--
- Those virgin cheeks, which did so late appear
- Like snow-banks scattered with the blooms of May,
- Turned to a little cold and worthless clay,
- Are gone, forever gone, and perished here,--
- But not unbathed by Memory's warmest tear!
- Death thou hast torn, in one unpitying hour,
- That fragrant plant, to which, while scarce a flower,
- The mellower fruitage of its prime was given;
- Love saw the deed, -- and as he lingered near
- Sighed o'er the ruin, and returned to heaven!
--Translated by R.F. Burton
"On the Death of Catarina de
Attayda" is reprinted from Hispanic Anthology: Poems
Translated from the Spanish by English and North American Poets.
Ed. Thomas Walsh. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1920. |
MORE POEMS BY LUIS VAZ DE CAMÕES |
|