Translations from Camoens; and Other Poets, with Original Poetry/Sonnet 128

by Luís de Camões

CAMOENS.

SONNET 128.

Huma admiravel herva se conbece.

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THERE blooms a plant, whose gaze, from hour to hour,
Still to the sun with fond devotion turns,
Wakes, when Creation hails his dawning power,
And most expands, when most her idol burns:

But when he seeks the bosom of the deep,
His faithful plant's reflected charms decay;
Then fade her flowers, her leaves discoloured weep,
Still fondly pining for the vanished ray.

Thou whom I love, the daystar of my sight!
When thy dear presence wakes me to delight,
Joy in my soul unfolds her fairest flower:
But in thy heaven of smiles alone it blooms,
And, of their light deprived, in grief consumes,
Born but to live within thine eye-beam's power.