Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Oceanica: Vol. XXXI. 1876–79.
Dirge on Guillen Peraza
By From the SpanishTranslated by John Leyden
P
Wail, as you wish for heaven to smile!
That flower of youth has faded fast,
That lovely flower, too fair to last,
Lies withered in wild Palma’s Isle.
Thou scene of dire disgrace and shame!
Thy name shall be the Bramble wild,
The Cypress sad by death defiled,
That sunk so dear a chieftain’s fame!
Pleasures desert thy guilty land,
Be haunted still by woes and pains,
And still, for spring’s reviving rains,
Thy flowery fields o’erwhelmed with sand!
Peraza! where is now thy spear?
No more his lance the chief shall wield,
His broken weapons strew the field:
Alas, for victory bought so dear!