Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

91

POWER OF LOVE.

"Si á do quieren reyes.”

IF laws fulfil a monarch's will

O how should I withstand,

When sovereign Love-from heaven above,
Sends forth his high command?

If all obey his royal sway,

His rule from age to age;

O how should I his right deny,
To honest vassalage?

No! to my king my faith shall bring

A tribute of allegiance;

For Love's bright law may surely draw

Submission and obedience.

If laws fulfil a monarch's will,

O how should I withstand,

When sovereign Love-from heaven above,

Sends forth his proud command?

Within my soul, without control,

He rules; and though I wear

His fettering chains-my heart maintains
Unshaken fealty there.

His laws are hard-but I regard

His service far more free,

Than licence given, by earth or heaven,

To wandering liberty.

If laws fulfil a monarch's will,

O how should I withstand,

When sovereign Love-from heaven above,

Sends forth his proud command?

Silva de Romances, Idem.

SLEEPING CUPID.

"Durmiose Cupido al son."

THE boy-god slept by the lullaby

Of crystal streams, whose waters threw Bright pearls on flowers, that smilingly Upon the banks of emerald grew;

And while he slept,—the careless child!
His mother stole his quiver full
Of arrows, which she laughing filed,
For use had made the arrows dull.

She linger'd long amidst the flowers,
Amidst the gems, which silent night
Flings o'er this faery world of ours,

Making far brighter what is bright.

She linger'd long, but sought in vain
Balm for her silent secret wound,

Yet smiled she oft in spite of pain,

And seem'd to find what ne'er she found.

Cupid slept by the lullaby

Of crystal streams, whose waters threw Bright pearls on flowers, that smilingly

Upon the banks of emerald grew.

And Cupid woke, for he had dream'd
Of jealousy, and woke in tears:
Well might he weep, who never seem'd
To feel for others' woes or fears!

The nightingale's sweet music made
A chorus with the silver rill;
The rude winds with the foliage play'd,
Wafting the leaves o'er vale and hill.

"O then console thee, gentle swain!
For Love a treacherous child was aye."
This was the solitary strain

That once a lover's grief could stay.
Cupid slept by the lullaby

Of crystal streams, whose waters threw Bright pearls on flowers, that smilingly Upon the banks of emerald grew..

Silva de Romances, Idem.

I'LL NEVER BE MARRIED.

"No quiero ser casada."

No! no! I'll never married be,
But love, and love,-and yet be free.

I will not wear a captive's chain,
Nor own a master:-they who wed,
First go to jail, and then remain
In everlasting fetters led.
I can't imagine what they gain.
No! no! I'll never married be,
But love, and love,-and yet be free.

A wife can't out of window look
Without a husband's grumbling loud;
Each slip's recorded in a book:

I won't submit! I own I'm proud,
Too proud such busy knaves to brook.
No! no! I'll never married be,
But love, and love,—and yet be free.

Unmarried, I command at will;

And youths press forward to obey: I find them glad and grateful still, And who so prompt to serve as they? Will lords a bride's desire fulfil?

« AnteriorContinua »