The Soul Of A Century/Romance
ROMANCE
Angrily the King addressed her:
“All my glory without blemish,
My heroic heart and fervor
I laid at your feet to trample;
I bent low my back that never
Bent before in dumb submission,
Bent before you and your beauty,
But in vain; And now, what happened?
Your bright eyes, made to be worshipped,
Eyes that barely seemed to see me
When in awe I gazed upon them,
Whither have your glances wandered?
Full of tears and deep compassion,
Full of love they shine, like starlight,
Falling on a man unhonored,
Without name or wealth or power,
On him all your love was showered
Like alms given to the paupers.”
To the King she thus gave answer:
“Master, ’tis the truth you’ve spoken.
Yes, I gave my love completely
To this man who is unhonored.
Man without a name or power.
You may laugh or storm in anger
Just as long my heart rejoices.
In mocked humbleness, oh Master,
Was concealed your pride unconscious,
And this trait so poorly covered,
My own vanity had tempted.
Then my pride to earth had crumbled,
Fell to naught before his greatness
That knew not own worth or measure.
Sir, believe me, ’twas a prayer
That had from his eyes descended
Like a call from depths abysmal.
He was captivating, sire,
Far more so, than others, master.
And my soul steeped deeply, fully,
In his soul, where it shall linger
Evermore in love unending.
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
| Original: |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
|---|---|
| Translation: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) between 1929 and 1977 (inclusive) without a copyright notice. The longest-living author of this work died in 1987, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 36 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
