| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | Happy the Man | | By Joachim du Bellay (1552–1560) |
| | Translated by Austin Dobson
Regrets
HAPPY the man, like wise Ulysses tried, | |
| Or him of yore that gat the Fleece of Gold, | |
| Who comes at last, from travels manifold, | |
| Among his kith and kindred to abide! | |
| |
| When shall I see from my small hamlet-side | 5 |
| Once more the blue and curling smoke unrolled? | |
| When the poor boundaries of my house behold,— | |
| Poor, but to me as any province wide? | |
| |
| Ah, more than these imperious piles of Rome | |
| Smile the low portals of my boyhood’s home! | 10 |
| More than their marble must its slate-roof be! | |
| |
| More than the Tiber’s flood my Loire is still! | |
| More than the Palatine my native hill, | |
| And the soft air of Anjou than the sea! | | | | |
|
|
