Poem
Luís Vaz de Camões
CRUEL SENHORA
Cruel Senhora, I’ve always been wary. I knewI needed to watch you closely in case
your doubts would surge to disaffection and erase
our love. Then I’d be ruined, since I love only you.
And now, everything I’d hope to have is lost:
you’re pursuing another lover. So I detach
myself, believing your retribution will match
the sacrificial depths my love has cost:
I’ve given my soul, my senses, and my life to you;
I’ve given you everything I have within me,
and you promised love, but now, there’s only disdain.
Lost and hopeless, I don’t know what to do,
yet I know the day will come when this memory
will crush you down with terrifying pain.
© Translation: 2005, William Baer
From: Selected Sonnets
Publisher: University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2005
From: Selected Sonnets
Publisher: University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2005
CRUEL SENHORA
Sempre, cruel Senhora, receei,
medindo vossa grã desconfiança,
que desse em desamor vossa tardança,
e que me perdesse eu, pois vos amei.
Perca-se, enfim, já tudo o que esperei,
pois noutro amor já tendes esperança.
Tão patente será vossa mudança,
quanto eu encobri sempre o que vos dei.
Dei-vos a alma, a vida e o sentido;
de tudo o que em mim há vos fiz senhora.
Prometeis e negais o mesmo Amor.
Agora tal estou que, de perdido,
não sei por onde vou, mas algũ’hora
vos dará tal lembrança grande dor.
© 1668, Luís Vaz de Camões
From: Rimas
Publisher: Almedina, Coímbra
From: Rimas
Publisher: Almedina, Coímbra
Poems
Poems of Luís Vaz de Camões
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CRUEL SENHORA
Cruel Senhora, I’ve always been wary. I knewI needed to watch you closely in case
your doubts would surge to disaffection and erase
our love. Then I’d be ruined, since I love only you.
And now, everything I’d hope to have is lost:
you’re pursuing another lover. So I detach
myself, believing your retribution will match
the sacrificial depths my love has cost:
I’ve given my soul, my senses, and my life to you;
I’ve given you everything I have within me,
and you promised love, but now, there’s only disdain.
Lost and hopeless, I don’t know what to do,
yet I know the day will come when this memory
will crush you down with terrifying pain.
© 2005, William Baer
From: Selected Sonnets
Publisher: 2005, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
From: Selected Sonnets
Publisher: 2005, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
CRUEL SENHORA
Cruel Senhora, I’ve always been wary. I knewI needed to watch you closely in case
your doubts would surge to disaffection and erase
our love. Then I’d be ruined, since I love only you.
And now, everything I’d hope to have is lost:
you’re pursuing another lover. So I detach
myself, believing your retribution will match
the sacrificial depths my love has cost:
I’ve given my soul, my senses, and my life to you;
I’ve given you everything I have within me,
and you promised love, but now, there’s only disdain.
Lost and hopeless, I don’t know what to do,
yet I know the day will come when this memory
will crush you down with terrifying pain.
© 2005, William Baer
From: Selected Sonnets
Publisher: 2005, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
From: Selected Sonnets
Publisher: 2005, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
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