Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79. | | | | Portugal: Mondego, the River | | Mondego | | Luís de Camões (c. 1524–1580) |
| | Translated by William Herbert
EVER gliding to the sea | |
| Flow the waters fair and free | |
| Of clear Mondego tranquil through the plain: | |
| Anxious thoughts and growing care | |
| Bound my youthful bosom there, | 5 |
| And slowly fixed their ever-during reign. | |
| Along the pleasant margin green, | |
| Where now I mourn the altered scene, | |
| First did my eyes a nymph behold, | |
| Brighter than snow and pure as gold; | 10 |
| Sweet smiles serene; and grace so well displayed, | |
| That from my heart its form will never fade. | |
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| In this country decked with flowers | |
| Blithely rolled my peaceful hours, | |
| In calm contentment, unalloyed with sighs. | 15 |
| Then I gloried in my cares; | |
| Rapture sweetened e’en the tears | |
| Drawn by the beam of those love-darting eyes. | |
| Time flowed, nor I its lapse perceived, | |
| Long by delusive hope deceived; | 20 |
| I sported in life’s cheerful ray, | |
| And dreamed of bliss from day to day. | |
| What now avail those joys, too quickly flown! | |
| Those eyes, that with unrivalled lustre shone! * * * * * | | | | |
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