‘Twas Tagus’ banks to me a
child my home and nurture gave;
Ungrateful land, that lets me pine unransomed
as a slave.
For now to-day, a dying man, am I come
back again,
And I must lay my bones on this, the farthest
shore of Spain.
It is not only exile’s sword that
cuts me to the heart;
It is not only love for her from whom
they bade me part;
Nor only that I suffer, forgot by every
friend,
But, ah! it is the triple blow that brings
me to my end.”
And now, like
furies, from the east the gale began to blow,
And with the crash
of thunder the billows broke below.
“The fire with which my bosom burns,
alas! thy coolest breeze
Can never slake, nor can its rage thy
coolest wave appease;
The earth can bring no solace to the ardor
of my pain,
And the whole ocean waters were poured
on it in vain.
For it is like the blazing sun that sinks
in ocean’s bed,
And yet, with ardor all unquenched, next
morning rears its head.
Thus from the sea my suffering’s
flame has driven me once more,
And here I land, without a hope, upon
this arid shore.”
And
now, like furies, from the east the gale began to blow,
And
with the crash of thunder the billows broke below.
“Oh, call me not, oh, call me not,
thou voice of other years,
The fire that flames within my heart has
dried the spring of tears.
And, while my eyes might well pour forth
those bitter drops of pain,
The drought of self-consuming grief has
quenched the healing rain.
Here, let me cry aloud for her, whom once
I called mine own,
For well I wot that loving maid for me
has made her moan.
’Tis for her sake my flight I urge
across the sea and land,
And now ’twixt shore and ocean’s
roar I take my final stand.”
And
now, like furies, from the east the gale began to blow,
And
with the crash of thunder the billows broke below.
Then stooping to the earth he grasped
the soil with eager hand,
He kissed it, and with water he mixed
the thirsty sand.
“O thou,” he said, “poor
soil and stream, in the Creator’s plan
Art the end and the beginning of all that
makes us man!
From thee rise myriad passions, that stir
the human breast,
To thee at last, when all is o’er,
they sink to find their rest.
Thou, Earth, hast been my mother, and
when these pangs are o’er,
Thou shalt become my prison-house whence
I can pass no more.”
And now, like
furies, from the east the gale began to blow,
And with the crash
of thunder the billows broke below.
And now he saw the warring winds that
swept across the bay
Had struck the battered shallop and carried
it away.
“O piteous heaven,” he cried
aloud, “my hopes are like yon bark:
Scattered upon the storm they lie and
never reach their mark.”
And suddenly from cloudy heavens came