Francisco de Aldana (1537?–1578)

Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

CLEAR fount of light! my native land on high

Bright with a glory that shall never fade!

Mansion of truth! without a veil or shade,

Thy holy quiet meets the spirit’s eye.

There dwells the soul in its ethereal essence,

Gasping no longer for life’s feeble breath;

But sentinelled in heaven, its glorious presence

With pitying eye beholds, yet fears not, death.

Belovëd country! banished from thy shore,

A stranger in this prison-house of clay,

The exiled spirit weeps and sighs for thee!

Heavenward the bright perfections I adore

Direct, and the sure promise cheers the way,

That, whither love aspires, there shall my dwelling be.