Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79.

Portugal: Lima, the River

The River Lima

By Diogo Bernardes (c. 1530–c. 1605)

Translated by John Adamson

O LIMA, thou that in this valley’s sweep

Now murmuring glid’st, with soothing sounds the while

That western skies obscure Sol’s gilded smile,

Luring the neighbors of thy stream to sleep,

I, now lovelorn, of other sounds than thine,

Catch but the whispers as thy waters flow,

And, in the loved one’s absence sunk in woe,

Increase thy wave with gushing tears of mine.

And whilst meandering gently to the sea

Seemeth methinks, so sweet the moan thou makest,

That thou a share in all my griefs partakest,—

Yet I ’m deceived, thou but complain’st of me;

That the intrusion of my falling tear

Should break the surface of thy waters clear.