Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79.
The River Lima
By Diogo Bernardes (c. 1530c. 1605)Translated by John Adamson
O L
Now murmuring glid’st, with soothing sounds the while
That western skies obscure Sol’s gilded smile,
Luring the neighbors of thy stream to sleep,
I, now lovelorn, of other sounds than thine,
Catch but the whispers as thy waters flow,
And, in the loved one’s absence sunk in woe,
Increase thy wave with gushing tears of mine.
And whilst meandering gently to the sea
Seemeth methinks, so sweet the moan thou makest,
That thou a share in all my griefs partakest,—
Yet I ’m deceived, thou but complain’st of me;
That the intrusion of my falling tear
Should break the surface of thy waters clear.