European Elegies/Autumn (1)/Darkness
4.DARKNESS
The sun sets; and before the saddened eye
The waning light fades wearily away;
While night's dark hand, as it resumes its sway,
Sows clouds in sorrow down the sombre sky.
The waning light fades wearily away;
While night's dark hand, as it resumes its sway,
Sows clouds in sorrow down the sombre sky.
The village roofs have vanished utterly,
And the swart cypresses are lost in grey;
All things are still, save where in yonder bay
Upon the sands the dull waves slowly die.
And the swart cypresses are lost in grey;
All things are still, save where in yonder bay
Upon the sands the dull waves slowly die.
With hand on brow, I sadly gaze among
The shades that deepen round my darkened brain
And teach my tears their passion to prolong;
The shades that deepen round my darkened brain
And teach my tears their passion to prolong;
And if I could command relief from pain,
It would be that the night should last so long
That dreary day would never dawn again.
It would be that the night should last so long
That dreary day would never dawn again.
From the Portuguese of João Xavier de Mattos.