CXXVII.
Esse terreste Caos com sens vapores
(Much admired. Cf. “The Lusiads,” X. 6).
This earthly Chaos, with its vaporous layer,
May ne’er condense to base contagious cloud,
But that clear Sol shall rend the racking shroud
With his own lucent radiance rarely fair:
This coy ingratitude, this rigorous air,
Are the foul ugly mists that fronting crowd,
Till Heaven convert to weeping long and loud
Its vain fond esperance and its favours spare.
Earth may to Heaven her rondure interpose:
Eclipse for hours the sight of Sol may hide;
But ne’er endureth light convert to shade:
Haply your warfare shall o’ercome its foes;
But maugre every cloud, clear, purified
Shall shine your Sun by all mankind obey’d.
CXXVIII.
Huma admiravel erva se conhece,
(He is like a certain Indian herb).
In Hind an admirable herb is known,
That fares from hour to hour the sun enfacing
When forth he comes from Euphrat-bank upracing,
And when he’s zenith’d then it blooms full-blown.
But, as his charet welks a-sea to wone,
Then Flora forfeits charms the most engracing,
For wanness wilts her pride, all hues effacing:
So loss of sunlight gars her woe-begone.
My Sun! whene’er you gladden my-your sprite,
Showing the favour very life bestows,
You bring luxuriant bloom my Soul contenting:
But soon unseeing you and whelmed in woes,
She wilts and withers with her fierce tormenting
Nor is there any bears your absence-blight.
CXXIX.
Crecey, desejo meu, poys que a Ventura
(His loving hopes of a happy end. Cf. Sonn. 31).
Grow ye my Longings! sithence Aventure
You in her arms vouchsafed to raise and rear;
For the fair Cause that such a birth could bear
The happiest ending doth for you ensure.
If bold aspirings to such height allure,
Fear not so near-hand unto Sol to fare;
Likest the Royal Erne’s be now your care,
Who proves him purer more he doth endure.
Take heart, my heart! the very Thought has lent
A power to gar thee grow more glorious-great,
Without regarding aught thy meritment.
Thou must grow stronger still by force innate;
For an of bravery born was thy Intent,
Now doth its Daring make it fortunate.
CXXX.
He o gozado bem em agua escrito;
(Metaphysico-amorous. Cf. Sonn. 31 and 229).
Weal, once enjoyed, is on water writ;
Love wones in longing, dies he in the effect:
Only can Longing longed-for Gifts perfect,
Sith it has something of the Infinite:
To gift with Goods prescribed the immortal Sprite
In purest-perfect Love, were mere defect:
By mode superior, failures ne’er affect,
You I except from limits here indite.
By force of Esperance evermore unknown,
By faith of man’s desire and man’s despair,
More of desire you’ll win when you are won.
You can’t be loved for Esperance bald and bare:
Loved you shall be when seen, believed when shown;
But not sans injury dare we try Compare.
CXXXI.
De quantos gracas tinha a Natureza.
(To an Angelica? Cf. Sonn. 137).
Nature of all her graces infinite
Formed a Treasury filled with rarest show;
And with her Rubins, Roses, Gold and Snow,
Framed that form sublime, Angelick-bright.
Rubins in lips she set, on the pure light
Of face I die for, garred she Roses grow;
Taught the blonde metal in the locks to flow,
And snowed the bosom that enfires my sprite.
But in those eyne her Power showed best display;
She made of them a Sun that doth depure
Radiance to clearer than the clearest day.
For brief, my La dye, in your ornature
She lavisht purity (far as Nature may)
Of Rubins, Roses, Snow, bright Gold, Light pure.
CXXXII.
Nunca ern Amor damnou o atrevimento;
(Audaces Fortuna juvat: Be Bold: De l’audace, &c.).
Love ne’er condemned hearts that boldly dare;
Fortune aye favoured man’s audacity;
For ever weighteth shrinking Cowardry,
Like stone, man’s Thought which should be free as air.
Who to sublimest Firmament would fare
His guide and Lode-star there alone shall see;
For Weal enhearsed in man’s phantasy
Is hut illusion fit for breeze to bear.
We fain must open paths for Aventure:
None save by proper self to Fortune rose;
And Fate doth only first beginnings breed.
To dare is Valour, not fool’s use and ure.
The heart of craven all its chance shall lose
If, seeing you, it may not Fear unheed.
CXXXIII.
Doces, e claras aguas do Mondego,
(Adieu to Coimbra. Cf. Sonn. 212: Elegy I.).
Sweet lucent waters of Mondego-stream,
Of my Remembrance restful jouissance,
Where far-fet, lingering, traitorous Esperance
Long whiles misled me in a blinding Dream:
Fro’ you I part, yea, still I’ll ne’er misdeem
That long-drawn Memories which your charms enhance
Forbid me changing and, in every chance,
E’en as I farther speed I nearer seem.
Well may my Fortunes hale this instrument
Of Soul o’er new strange regions wide and side,
Offered to winds and watery element:
But hence my Spirit, by you ‘companied,
Borne on the nimble wings that Reverie lent
Flies home and bathes her, Waters! in your tide.
CXXXIV.
Senhor Joao Lopez, o meu baxo estado
(About some light o’ love. Cf. Sonn. 62).
Sir John Lopez! yestreen my low estate
I saw upraised to rank so excellent,
E’en you, by all men envied, would consent,
For my Fate only to exchange your Fate.
I saw the geste so suave, so delicate,
That dealt you erst Content and Discontent,
I heard the gentle voice to winds outsent,
Serening air and soothing bane and bate.
I saw her saying as much in words as few
As none in many; but myself I find
Dying but to hear those honeyed accents flow.
Ah! woe worth Fortune and the Boy born blind,
Him, for obliging hearts such Ills to rue;
Her, who unequal lots doth still bestow.
CXXXV.
A Morte que da vida o no desata
(Cupio dissolvi, &c.).
Death, who our life-knot loveth to unknit,
The knots Love knitted would asunder shear
With Absence, sword-blade keen o’erhanging near,
And Time abetting who doth all unfit:
Two foes that each would slay his opposite,
Death against Love conjoins in union fere;
This, Reason warring Fortune’s will austere;
That, thankless Fortune Reason fain to outwit.
But prove his potent, high, imperial Power
Death, when fro’ body he departs the sprite,
Love in one body twinned souls shall mate;
That bear the Palm-
wreath with triumphant might
Fro’ Mors strong Amor, ‘spite of Absence-stowre,
And Power of Time, of Reason and of Fate.
CXXXVI.
Arvore, cujo pomo hello, e brando,
(To a Rose-apple tree under which sat his lover).
Tree! on whose gracious Pome we see the trace
Of blood and milk by Nature’s art depinct;
Upon whose cheek the rosy snowy tinct
Rivals the radiance of the virginal face.
Ne’er with the wuthering winds, whose raging race
Uproots the tree-bole, may thy lot be linkt;
Nor airy malice view in thee extinct
The varied colours now thy fruitage grace;
And eke thou showerest suave and suitable shade
On my Contentment, while thy perfumed scent
Flavours the glory that be-favours me;
And if my merit fail thy meritment
Singing thy praises, leastways be thou made
‘Gainst days of sorrow one sweet Memory.
CXXXVII.
O filho de Latona esclarecido,
(Petrarch, Triumph of Love, end of Chap. I.).
Latona’s son, by clearest light belit,
Who gladdeth mortals with his genial ray,
Prevailed the Worm Pythonickal to slay
Whose bite slew thousands ere the biter bit.
He smote with bow and eke with bow was smit,
Whose golden arrows clove their glowing way,
Where meads Thessalian softly smiling lay,
And the Peneian Nymph was she that hit.
Nothing availed him to cure his pain,
Wisdom, respect, ne diligent watch and ward,
For all his being celestial, sovereign:
If then a god unsaw the snaring bane
Of one so humble-mean in his regard,
What hope from Maid of more than mortal main?
CXXXVIII.
Presen fa bella, Angelica figura,
(To an Angelica? Cf. Sonn. 131).
Beautiful presence, form of Angel-grace,
Where Heaven’s choicest Heaven made our own
Glad geste in garden where the Rose is sown,
‘Mid Roses smiling with a rosier face.
Eyne in whose depths such minglement we trace
Of chrystal marquetry’d with onyx-stone,
For orbs of delicate green have ever shown
Not greenth of Hope but Envy obscure base.
Grace, Softness, Prudence, gifties e’er increasing
The natural Beauties with an honest Scorn,
(Whereby the scorned Charms more honour win)
Like prisons hold a heart, which prisoner borne,
Singeth to clanking chains its pains so pleasing,
As sings the Siren o’er the stormy din.
CXXXIX.
Por cima destas aguas forte, e firme,
(Written en route to Goa? Cf. Sonn. 24 and 35).
Wi’ firm and forceful heart ferforth I’ll hie
Over these waves where’er Fate ordered,
Since o’er the briny floods I saw beshed
By those clear eyne, I found the force to fly.
The parting-season now had passed by;
Now ‘spite a thousand stumbling blocks I sped,
Where all Love’s torrent-streams were traversed
That would to parting steps a pass deny.
CXL.
Tal mostra de si da vossa figura
(To an Isabel? Written for a friend?).
So doth your semblance show to ‘raptured viewer
Sibela! globed Earth’s resplendent light,
That forceful Nature and creative might
Glow with your purer presence kindlier pure.
What man hath seen sure conquest so secure,
So singular enamel beauteous-bright,
Who shall not suffer ills of iller plight,
If he attempt resist such lovely lure?
I, then, to excuse and ‘scape disdain so coy,
Before my Thought made Reason bow and bend,
And saw my Senses soon his captives tane.
But an my Daring you perchance offend,
A novel vengeance you may yet enjoy
On the life remnants that to me remain.
CXLI.
Na desesperacao ja repousava
(He consoles himself with the pleasures of Despair).
In Desperation ‘gan repose espy
My bosom’s Lord, so long, so deeply pained;
And (concert with eternal loss attained)
I dreaded nothing, naught of hope had I:
When a vain shadow lured me to rely
On some fair boon for me mote be ordained
In formous form whose counterfeit remained
Ensoul’d, and raised me unto height so high.
What ready credit hearts have ever lent
To that they covet with a fixed will,
If once their hard-heart Destiny they forget!
Ah! Leave me error: I am heart-content;
For though my lesser grow to greater Ill,
Remain the glories Fancy doth beget.
CXLII.
Diversos does reparte o Ceo benino,
(Cf. Sonns. “ and 120).
Distribute sundry boons the Heavens benign,
Willing each spirit own but single boon;
Thiswise with chastest bosom He deckt the Moon
Who lights the primal sphere, the chrystalline:
Grace made the Mother of the Boy to shine.
Who in this vision feels her charms outshone;
Pallas had learning ne’er excelled thine own,
And fell to Juno noble empire digne.
But now large Heaven deigns on thee outpour
The most He owneth, and ‘twere but a trace,
Respecting whatso Nature’s Author be.
Lend thee, fair Dame! unlief to lend their store
Luna chaste bosom, Venus all her grace,
Her learning Pallas, Juno empery.
CXLIII.
Gentil. Senhora, se a Fortuna imiga
(Written en route to Ceuta?).
If, Ladye fair! my Fortune, ferest foe,
Who against my welfare plots with all the skies,
Debar these eyne from dwelling on those eyes,
That she pursue me with a sorer blow;
I bear this spirit bound to undergo
Wrath’s direst pressure, fire, sea-injuries,
Vowing you Memory that for ever sighs
Only with you unending lien to owe.
In this my Sprite where Fortune fails of force,
So live I’ll keep you, famine, frost and flame
Shall ne’er out-drive you, ne most parlous plight.
Rather, with accents tremulous and hoarse
Calling on you, and only in your name
The winds and all my foes I’ll force to flight.
CXLIV.
Que modo tad sutil da Natureza
(To one taking the Fanciscan veil in 1572).
What novel show of Nature’s subtleties
The World and every worldly snare to fly,
Allows thee hide, ere thy green years go by,
So fresh young beauties ‘neath a frock of frieze!
Yet can it never hide that high-bred ease,
The gracious gravity of that sovran eye,
Before whose radiance ‘mid the lave have I
Lost all resistance, lost all energies.
Whoso would fare him free of griefs and pains,
Seeing and bearing her in thought memorious,
By very self of Reason self condemns.
For who deserved sight of charms so glorious
Must live a prisoned wight; since Love ordains
In her own right She claim to be victorious.
CXLV.
Quando se vir com agoa o fogo arder,
(On an attempt to remove his lover
).
When man sees water burn with blazing lowe
And brightest Dayshine mate with blackest Night;
When Earth upheaves her depths to highmost height,
Where Heaven his own prerogative doth show: When Love at Reason’s feet shall lout him low
And Fortune level all with equal right,
I will forego to see that fairest sight
And then, the sight foregone, Love I’ll unknow.
But since hath never seen such change, such chance,
The World, for-that, in fine, no sight e’er sees it,
None seek to wean me fro’ my love of you,
Basta, that bide in you mine Esperance
To save my Soul or, an you please, to leese it,
Ne’er shall mine eyes consent your sight to unview.
CXLVI.
Quando a suprema, dor muito me aperta,
(His greatest misery would be to forget).
When I (by supreme miseries opprest)
Say ’tis my wish forgetfulness to find,
’Tis but a violence offered to my mind,
And nills Free-will obey such tyrant-hest.
Then rouseth me from fault the faultiest
Light in a saner intellect enshrine’d,
Showing ’tis foolish thought or feigning kind
To say such resting bringeth certain rest.
For this true Image, which hath represented
In mind the single Good I must forego,
After a fashion shows my hand hath hent it.
Then blest and blissful grows the Grief I owe,
Sith by its causing I enjoy contented
A Weal that e’en unseeing you I know..
CXLVI I.
No margem de hum ribeyro, que fendia
(Natercia married?).
On bank of brooklet, cleaving with its tide
Of liquid chrystalline, a fair green plain,
Sombre with sorrow Liso (hapless swain)
On bole of mountain-ash enpropt thus cried: —
“Cruel Natercia! Who doth so misguide
Thy kindly caring for my care-full bane?
If undeceived I must dree such pain,
By thee deceived ever mote I bide.”
What of that faith and troth to me thou plightedst?
What of that purest love that showed its fairest?
Who could so readily do all undone?
When with those Eyne another’s love thou sightedst,
How couldst forget what oath to me thou swarest
By all their splendours, thou wast mine, mine own?”
CXLVIII.
Se me vem tanta gloria so de olharte,
(Sufistical: Love’s loss is his gain).
If I so triumph but because I view thee,
I see more sorrow when mine eyes unsight thee:
If I would merit thee by praise I write thee,
Largely I pay false hopes to woo and sue thee.
If as thou be my praise aspire to approve thee,
Luis de Camoes Collected Poetical Works Page 147