LET ME GO WARM
by: Luis de Argote y Góngora
(1561-1627)
- ET me
go warm and merry still;
- And let the world laugh, an' it will.
-
- Let other muse on earthly things,--
- The fall of thrones, the fate of kings,
- And those whose fame the world doth fill;
- Whilst muffins sit enthroned in trays,
- And orange-punch in winter sways
- The merry sceptre of my days;--
- And let the world laugh, an' it will.
-
- He that the royal purple wears,
- From golden plate a thousand cares
- Doth swallow as a gilded pill;
- On feasts like these I turn my back,
- Whilst puddings in my roasting-jack
- Beside the chimney hiss and crack;--
- And let the world laugh, an' it will.
-
- And when the wintry tempest blows,
- And January's sleets and snows
- Are spread o'er every vale and hill,
- With one to tell a merry tale
- O'er roasted nuts and humming ale,
- I sit, and care not for the gale;--
- And let the world laugh, an' it will.
-
- Let merchants traverse seas and lands
- For silver mines and golden sands;
- Whilst I beside some shadowy rill
- Just where its bubbling fountain swells
- Do sit and gather stones and shells,
- And hear the tale the blackbird tells;--
- And let the world laugh, an' it will.
-
- For Hero's sake the Grecian lover
- The stormy Hellespont swam over;
- I cross without the fear of ill
- The wooden bridge that slow bestrides
- The Madrigal's enchanting sides,
- Or barefoot wade through Yepes' tides;--
- And let the world laugh, an' it will.
-
- But since the Fates so cruel prove,
- That Pyramus
should die of love,
- And love should gentle Thisbe kill;
- My Thisbe be an apple-tart,
- The sword I plunge into her heart
- The tooth that bites the crust apart,--
- And let the world laugh, an' it will.
--Translated by H.W. Longfellow
"Let Me Go Warm" 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 DE ARGOTE Y GÓNGORA |
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