XII.

On the death of D. Antonio de Noronha, who was killed in a Moorish ambuscade at Ceuta.

N blossom thou wast snatched, but newly grown,

IN

Ah! Don Antonio, by too harsh a blow, Where by the arm of valour thou didst show The memory of the ancients overthrown:

One only sad reflection have I known,

Whence to seek comfort for such grievous woe;
That as the World could glorious death bestow,
Thou couldst not claim a longer life thine own.
If to my humble verse such power belong,
That equal art respond to my desire,

Thou shalt afford me an illustrious theme;
And hymned in mournful and extended song,
If hand of cruel Mars have quenched thy fire,
shall thy death redeem.

Eternal memory

Trieste to Pola, August 1880.

XIII.

Escripto a uma Senhora Chamada Violante.

N

'HUM jardim adornado de verdura,

Que esmaltavam por cima várias flôres, Entrou hum dia a deosa dos amores, Com a deosa da caça e da espessura.

Diana tomou logo hũa rosa pura,
Venus hum roxo lyrio, dos melhores;
Mas excediam muito ás outras flôres
As violas na graça e formosura.

Perguntam a Cupido, que alli estava,
Qual de aquellas tres flôres tomaria
Por mais suave e pura, e mais formosa.

Sorrindo-se o menino lhes tornava :
Todas formosas são; mas eu queria
Viola antes que lyrio, nem que rosa.

XIII.

Addressed to a young lady called Violante,-here Violetta.

I

NTO a garden all adorned with green,

[face,

Whereof bright flowers bedecked the enamelled

The goddess fair of Love to come was seen,

Linked with the goddess of the wood and chase.

Diana pulled a rose, of purest hue;
Venus, a purple lily, choicest there;

But, beyond all that in the garden grew,
In beauty and in grace the violets were.

Of Cupid they demand, who stood hard by,

Of those three chosen flowers the which he deemed

The fairest, sweetest, purest, to his eye,

Which of the lovely three the loveliest seemed.

Then Cupid smiling answered: Must I choose?
All are so beautiful, so charming! yet
Before the lily, e'en before the rose,
Truly I do prefer the Violet.

CAIRO, February 27, 1880.

XIV.

Queixas de Liso, vendo sua dama despreza-lo por outrem.

ODO animal da calma repousava,

TODO

Só Liso o ardor della não sentia;

Que o repouso do fogo, em que elle ardia, Consistia na nympha que buscava.

Os montes parecia que abalava

O triste som das mágoas que dizia :
Mas nada o duro peito commovia,
Que na vontade de outro posto estava.
Cansado ja de andar por a espessura,
No tronco de huma faia, por lembrança,
Escreve estas palavras de tristeza :
Nunca ponha ninguem sua esperança
Em peito feminil, que de natura

Sómente em ser mudavel tem firmeza.

XIV.

Complaint of Liso, on finding himself slighted by his beloved for another.

ALL living things are resting from the heat ;

Liso alone its ardour fails to know,

For safety from the fires that in him glow
Lies in the nymph whom he desires to meet.
The mountains seem, all troubled, to repeat
The mournful strains that from his bosom flow,
But no response the obdurate heart would show,
Which to the wishes of another beat.

All tired, as through the forest dense he goes,
He sadly carves, that memory may not fade,
These words of anguish on a beechen tree;
Ah! never let a mortal's hope repose
On woman's breast, who, as by nature made,
Is constant only in inconstancy.

At sea, Lisbon to St. Michael's, June 1880.