NOT ALL SWEET NIGHTINGALES
by: Luis de Argote y Góngora
(1561-1627)
- HEY are
not all sweet nightingales
- That fill with songs the flowery vales;
- But they are little silver bells,
- Touched by the winds in the smiling dells;
- Magic bells of gold in the grove,
- Forming a chorus for her I love.
-
- Think not the voices in the air
- Are from the wingéd Sirens fair,
- Playing among the dewy trees
- Chanting their morning mysteries;
- Oh! if you listen, delighted there,
- To their music scattered o'er the dales,
- They are not all sweet nightingales
- That fill with songs the flowery vales;
- But they are little silver bells,
- Touched by the winds in the smiling dells;
- Magic bells of gold in the grove,
- Forming a chorus for her I love.
-
- Oh! 'twas a lovely song -- of art
- To charm -- of nature to touch the heart;
- Sure 'twas some shepherd's pipe, which played
- By passion fills the forest shade;
- No! 'tis music's diviner part
- Which o'er the yielding spirit prevails.
- They are not all sweet nightingales
- That fill with songs the flowery vales;
- But they are little silver bells,
- Touched by the winds in the smiling dells;
- Magic bells of gold in the grove,
- Forming a chorus for her I love.
-
- In the eye of love, which all things sees,
- The fragrance-breathing jasmine trees--
- And the golden flowers -- and the sloping hill--
- And the ever melancholy rill--
- Are full of holiest sympathies,
- And tell of love a thousand tales.
- They are not all sweet nightingales,
- That fill with songs the cheerful vales;
- But they are little silver bells,
- Touched by the wind in the smiling dells,
- Bells of gold in the secret grove,
- Making music for her I love.
- Till I too shared thy heavenly rest.
--Translated by John Bowring
"Not All Sweet Nightingales"
is reprinted from Hispanic Anthology: Poems Translated from
the Spanish by English and North American Poets. Ed. Thomas
Walsh. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1920. |
MORE POEMS BY LUIS DE ARGOTE Y GÓNGORA |
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