Poetry

You who seek serenity in the wide

tempestuous sea of the world, cease

and abandon all hope of ever finding peace,

except in Jesus Christ, God Crucified.

If wealth absorbs your thoughts and preoccupies

your nights, God is the greatest treasure of all;

And if you’re looking for beauty, always recall

that God alone is the Beauty that satisfies.

If you seek delights to set your heart on fire,

remember that God’s the sweetest of all, Who rewards

His followers with victory at last;

If honor and glory are what you most desire,

no greater honor or glory has ever surpassed

humbly serving the highest Lord of Lords.

”Luís de Camões (1524/25“1580)

Translated from the Portuguese by William Baer

Good Friday

All souls, at Mass, knelt in supplication,

in the presence of the Lord, that holy day,

within the mercy of God, to silently pray

their worship to the King of all creation.

Till then, my heart was free from every care,

and calm, according to destiny’s design;

but then, those eyes, far more noble than mine,

stole my reason and left me shaken and unaware.

Her vision struck me blind with disbelief,

being such a strange and exalted state:

this new angelic presence in my heart.

Is there no way that I can find relief?

And why, at birth, does human nature create

us all so different, and so far apart?

”Luís de Camões (1524/25“1580)

Translated from the Portuguese by William Baer

Dear Gentle Soul

Dear gentle soul, who has, too soon, departed

this life, so discontent: please rest, my dear,

forever in heaven, while I, remaining here,

must live alone, in pain, and broken“hearted.

Within your ethereal state, so high above,

if you are allowed to recall your life below,

remember what you saw, not long ago,

within my eyes, my perfect ardent love.

And if my pain has earned me some relief,

some dispensation, I wonder if you might

in prayer ask God, who took away your brief

young life, if He would soon, this very night,

give me death, and end my helpless grief,

as swiftly as He took you from my sight.

”Luís de Camões (1524/25“1580)

Translated from the Portuguese by William Baer