Lope de Vega (1562–1635)

Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

LORD, what am I, that, with unceasing care,

Thou didst seek after me,—that thou didst wait,

Wet with unhealthy dews, before my gate,

And pass the gloomy nights of winter there?

O strange delusion!—that I did not greet

Thy blest approach, and oh, to Heaven how lost,

If my ingratitude’s unkindly frost

Has chilled the bleeding wounds upon thy feet.

How oft my guardian angel gently cried,

“Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see

How He persists to knock and wait for thee!”

And oh! how often to that voice of sorrow

“To-morrow we will open,” I replied,

And when the morrow came I answered still, “To-morrow.”