Catarina to Camoens

I.
On the door you will not enter,
&nbspI have gazed too long: adieu!
Hope withdraws her peradventure;
&nbspDeath is near me,—and not you.
&nbsp       &nbspCome, O lover,
&nbsp       &nbspClose and cover
These poor eyes, you called, I ween,
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen!”

II.
When I heard you sing that burden
&nbspIn my vernal days and bowers,
Other praises disregarding,
&nbspI but hearkened that of yours—
&nbsp       &nbspOnly saying
&nbsp       &nbspIn heart-playing,
“Blessed eyes mine eyes have been,
If the sweetest his have seen!”

III.
But all changes. At this vesper,
&nbspCold the sun shines down the door.
If you stood there, would you whisper
&nbsp“Love, I love you,” as before,—
&nbsp       &nbspDeath pervading
&nbsp       &nbspNow, and shading
Eyes you sang of, that yestreen,
As the sweetest ever seen?

IV.
Yes. I think, were you beside them,
&nbspNear the bed I die upon,
Though their beauty you denied them,
&nbspAs you stood there, looking down,
&nbsp       &nbspYou would truly
&nbsp       &nbspCall them duly,
For the love’s sake found therein,
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen.”

V.
And if you looked down upon them,
&nbspAnd if they looked up to you,
All the light which has foregone them
&nbspWould be gathered back anew:
&nbsp       &nbspThey would truly
&nbsp       &nbspBe as duly
Love-transformed to beauty’s sheen,
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen.”

VI.
But, ah me! you only see me,
&nbspIn your thoughts of loving man,
Smiling soft perhaps and dreamy
&nbspThrough the wavings of my fan;
&nbsp       &nbspAnd unweeting
&nbsp       &nbspGo repeating,
In your reverie serene,
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen——”

VII.
While my spirit leans and reaches
&nbspFrom my body still and pale,
Fain to hear what tender speech is
&nbspIn your love to help my bale.
&nbsp       &nbspO my poet,
&nbsp       &nbspCome and show it!
Come, of latest love, to glean
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen.”

VIII.
O my poet, O my prophet,
&nbspWhen you praised their sweetness so,
Did you think, in singing of it,
&nbspThat it might be near to go?
&nbsp       &nbspHad you fancies
&nbsp       &nbspFrom their glances,
That the grave would quickly screen
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen”?

IX.
No reply. The fountain’s warble
&nbspIn the courtyard sounds alone.
As the water to the marble
&nbspSo my heart falls with a moan
&nbsp       &nbspFrom love-sighing
&nbsp       &nbspTo this dying.
Death forerunneth Love to win
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen.”

X.
Will you come? When I’m departed
&nbspWhere all sweetnesses are hid,
Where thy voice, my tender-hearted,
&nbspWill not lift up either lid.
&nbsp       &nbspCry, O lover,
&nbsp       &nbspLove is over!
Cry, beneath the cypress green,
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen!”

XI.
When the angelus is ringing,
&nbspNear the convent will you walk,
And recall the choral singing
&nbspWhich brought angels down our talk?
&nbsp       &nbspSpirit-shriven
&nbsp       &nbspI viewed Heaven,
Till you smiled—“Is earth unclean,
Sweetest eyes were ever seen?”

XII.
When beneath the palace-lattice
&nbspYou ride slow as you have done,
And you see a face there that is
&nbspNot the old familiar one,—
&nbsp       &nbspWill you oftly
&nbsp       &nbspMurmur softly,
“Here ye watched me morn and e’en,
Sweetest eyes were ever seen!”

XIII.
When the palace-ladies, sitting
&nbspRound your gittern, shall have said,
“Poet, sing those verses written
&nbspFor the lady who is dead,”
&nbsp       &nbspWill you tremble
&nbsp       &nbspYet dissemble,—
Or sing hoarse, with tears between,
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen”?

XIV.
“Sweetest eyes!” how sweet in flowings
&nbspThe repeated cadence is!
Though you sang a hundred poems,
&nbspStill the best one would be this.
&nbsp       &nbspI can hear it
&nbsp       &nbsp’Twixt my spirit
And the earth-noise intervene—
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen!”

XV.
But the priest waits for the praying,
&nbspAnd the choir are on their knees,
And the soul must pass away in
&nbspStrains more solemn-high than these.
&nbsp       &nbspMiserere
&nbsp       &nbspFor the weary!
Oh, no longer for Catrine
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen!”

XVI.
Keep my riband, take and keep it,
&nbsp(I have loosed it from my hair)
Feeling, while you overweep it,
&nbspNot alone in your despair,
&nbsp       &nbspSince with saintly
&nbsp       &nbspWatch unfaintly
Out of heaven shall o’er you lean
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen.”

XVII.
But—but now—yet unremovèd
&nbspUp to heaven, they glisten fast;
You may cast away, Belovèd,
&nbspIn your future all my past:
&nbsp       &nbspSuch old phrases
&nbsp       &nbspMay be praises
For some fairer bosom-queen—
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen!”

XVIII.
Eyes of mine, what are ye doing?
&nbspFaithless, faithless,—praised amiss
If a tear be of your showing,
&nbspDropt for any hope of his!
&nbsp       &nbspDeath has boldness
&nbsp       &nbspBesides coldness,
If unworthy tears demean
“Sweetest eyes were ever seen.”

XIX.
I will look out to his future;
&nbspI will bless it till it shine.
Should he ever be a suitor
&nbspUnto sweeter eyes than mine,
&nbsp       &nbspSunshine gild them,
&nbsp       &nbspAngels shield them,
Whatsoever eyes terrene
Be the sweetest his have seen!