Luís de Camões

Love is a fire that burns unseen,
a wound that aches yet isn't felt,
an always discontent contentment,
...

Waters of gentle Tagus, calmly flowing
Through these green fields ye freshen as ye flow,
On flocks and herds, plants, flowers, all things that grow,
...

Never did love his boldness hurtful find;
Fortune hath ever favours for the bold;
For cowardice, that shivers in the cold,
...

When I behold you, Lady! when my eyes
Dwell on the deep enjoyment of your sight,
I give my spirit to that one delight,
...

Flowers are fresh, and bushes green,
Cheerily the linnets sing;
Winds are soft, and skies serene;
...

Beneath a green and lofty oak reclined,
Corydon o'er the scale his finger threw
In ivy's shade, whose clinging tendrils grew
...

On earth I lived few years, and weary ones,
cram-full of stubborn, wretched misery;
the dark day's light deserted me so soon
...

So sweet the lyre, so musical the strain,
By which my suit, Belovëd! is expressed,
That, hearing them, no such indifferent breast
...

The souls of all were sad in solemn prayer,
Owning the mercy of their Lord Divine,
While in His holy presence so benign,
...

My gentle spirit! thou who hast departed
So early, of this life in discontent,
Rest thou there ever, in Heaven's firmament,
...

His generous visage gashed with heathen blade,
His Royal brow with dust and blood all wan,
Came to the mournful boat of Acheron
...

Within a wood nymphs were inhabiting,
Sibella, lovely nymph, was wandering free;
And climbing up into a shady tree,
The yellow blossoms there was gathering.
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The eyes where love in chastest fire would glow,
Joying to be consumed amidst their light,
The face whereon with wondrous lustre bright
...

All hushed the heaven and earth, and wind the same,
The waves all spreading o'er the sandy plain,
While sleep doth in the sea the fish enchain,
...

Aurora with her new-born crystal ray
Arose the enamelled world again to dress,
When Nise, fair and gentle shepherdess,
...

Sweet, delicate fillet, who art left behind,
In pledge the joy I merit to redeem,
If, only seeing thee, half lost I seem,
What with the locks round which thou erst didst wind?
...

Quem vê, Senhora, claro e manifesto
o lindo ser de vossos olhos belos,
se não perder a vista só em vê-los,
já não paga o que deve a vosso gesto.

Este me parecia preço honesto;
mas eu, por de vantagem merecê-los,
dei mais a vida e alma por querê-los,
donde já me não fica mais de resto.

Assi que a vida e alma e esperança
e tudo quanto tenho, tudo é vosso,
e o proveito disso eu só o levo.

Porque é tamanha bem-aventurança
o dar-vos quanto tenho e quanto posso
que, quanto mais vos pago, mais vos devo.
...

Whoever, Lady, sees plainly on view
your beautiful eyes in their lustrous being
without being blinded in the act of seeing
is already not paying your face's due.

This seems to me an honest price,
but I, for the merit of deserving them,
gave both life and soul to serve them
apart from which I am without resource.

Enough that life and soul and hope
and as much as I have is all yours,
and the proof of this I alone know.

For such good fortune is beyond scope
giving you all that is in my power
as the more I pay you, the more I owe.
...

Transforma-se o amador na cousa amada,
por virtude do muito imaginar;
não tenho, logo, mais que desejar,
pois em mim tenho a parte desejada.

Se nela está minh'alma transformada,
que mais deseja o corpo de alcançar?
Em si sòmente pode descansar,
pois consigo tal alma está liada.

Mas esta linda e pura semideia,
que, como um acidente em seu sujeito,
assi co a alma minha se conforma,

está no pensamento como ideia:
o vivo e puro amor de que sou feito,
como a matéria simples busca a forma.
...

The lover becomes the thing he loves
by virtue of much imagining;
since what I long for is already in me,
the act of longing should be enough.

If my soul becomes the beloved,
what more can my body long for?
Only in itself will it find peace,
since my body and soul are linked.

But this pure, fair demigoddess,
who with my soul is in accord
like an accident with its subject,

exists in my mind as a mere idea;
the pure and living love I'm made of
seeks, like simple matter, form
...