Part 7 (2/2)

Thus I on barren rocks despair, And curse my stars, yet bless my fair.

Love, armed with snakes, has left his dart, And now does like a fury rave; And scourge and sting on every part, And into madness lash his slave.

Distant, though present in idea, I mourn my absent Dulcinea Del Toboso.

When the stars are adverse, what is human power?

Who is there in the world that can boast of having fathomed and thoroughly penetrated the intricate and ever-changing nature of a woman?

What causes all my grief and pain?

Cruel disdain.

What aggravates my misery?

Accursed jealousy.

How has my soul its patience lost?

By tedious absence crossed.

Alas! no balsam can be found To heal the grief of such a wound.

When absence, jealousy, and scorn Have left me hopeless and forlorn.

What in my breast this grief could move?

Neglected love.

What doth my fond desires withstand?

Fate's cruel hand.

And what confirms my misery?

Heaven's fixed decree.

Ah me! my boding fears portend, This strange disease my life will end: For die I must, when three such foes, Heaven, fate, and love, my bliss oppose.

My peace of mind, what can restore?

Death's welcome hour.

What gains love's joys most readily?

Fickle inconstancy.

Its pains what medicine can a.s.suage?

Wild frenzy's rage.

'Tis therefore little wisdom, sure, For such a grief to seek a cure, That knows no better remedy Than frenzy, death, inconstancy.

The hour, the season, the solitude, the voice, and the skill of the singer, all conspired to impress the auditors with wonder and delight, and they remained for some time motionless, in expectation of hearing more; but, finding the silence continue, they resolved to see who it was who had sung so agreeably, and were again detained by the same voice regaling their ears with this sonnet:--

Friends.h.i.+p, thou hast with nimble flight Exulting gained the empyreal height, In heaven to dwell, while here below Thy semblance reigns in mimic show; From thence to earth, at thy behest, Descends fair peace, celestial guest!

Beneath whose veil of s.h.i.+ning hue Deceit oft lurks, concealed from view.

Leave, friends.h.i.+p! leave thy heavenly seat, Or strip thy livery off the cheat.

If still he wears thy borrowed smiles, And still unwary truth beguiles, Soon must this dark terrestrial ball Into its first confusion fall.

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