This is rather an imitation than a translation of the poem of the
graceful French fabulist.
Page 146.
_These eyes shall not recall thee_, etc.
This is the very expression of the original--_No te llamarán mis ojos,
_etc. The Spanish poets early adopted the practice of calling a lady by
the name of the most expressive feature of her countenance, her eyes.
The lover styled his mistress "ojos bellos," beautiful eyes; "ojos
serenos," serene eyes. Green eyes seem to have been anciently thought a
great beauty in Spain, and there is a very pretty ballad by an absent
lover, in which he addressed his lady by the title of "green eyes;"
supplicating that he may remain in her remembrance:
"¡Ay ojuelos verdes!
Ay los mis ojuelos!
Ay, hagan los cielos
Que de mi te acuerdes!"
Page 147.
_Say, Love--for didst thou see her tears_, etc.
The stanza beginning with this line stands thus in the original:
"Dilo tu, amor, si lo viste;
¡Mas ay! que de lastimado
Diste otro nudo a la venda,
Para no ver lo que la pasado."
I am sorry to find so poor a conceit deforming so spirited a composition
as this old ballad, but I have preserved it in the version. It is one of
those extravagances which afterward became so common in Spanish poetry,
when Gongora introduced the _estilo culto_, as it was called.
Page 148.