Al brillar un relámpago[2] nacemos,
Y aún dura su fulgor, cuando morimos:
¡Tan corto es el vivir![3]
La gloria y el amor tras que corremos,
Sombras de un sueño son que perseguimos:
¡Despertar es morir!
[Footnote 1: Each stanza of this poem is composed of two
hendecasyllabic verses of the first class, followed by a
heptasyllabic _verso agudo_. The rhyme scheme of the poem is a, b,
c, a, b, c.]
[Footnote 2: Al brillar un relampago = 'At a lightning's flash';
that is to say, at the first gleam from a flash of lightning.
[Footnote 3: Tan corto es el vivir. The brevity of human life is
naturally enough a favorite theme with poets. Compare--
A Moment's Halt--a momentary taste
Of BEING from the Well amid the Waste--
And Lo!--the phantom Caravan has reached
The NOTHING it set out from--
Oh, make haste!
_The Rubáiyát of Omay Khayyám, 48th quatrain, Edward Fitzgerald's
translation._]