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.

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