A vida

(das Poesías: 1873)

A alvorada foi risonha;
Ergueste-te como o dia,
Eu fiz, naquela alvorada,
Uma alegre profecia.

Inda radiava fulgente
Vénus, a saudosa estrela,
Já tu ornavas as trancas
E cantavas à janela.

E dos laranjais vizinhos
Os rouxinóis acordados
Respondiam-te com trinos
Da tua voz namorados.

Dos virentes jasmineiros,
Que a Primavera enflorava,
Vinha cheio de perfumes
O vento que te beijava.

Quem dissera então ao ver-te
Nessa risonha alvorada,
Que a noite, estrela cadente,
Serias inanimada?

1870

Júlio Dinis (1839-1871)
médico e escritor português

The Life

(from Poems: 1873)

The dawn was radiant;
You stood up like the day,
I made, at that dawn,
A joyful prophecy.

Still shines bright
Venus, the yearning star,
Already you decorated the plaits
And sang at the window.

And from the nearby orange groves
The awake nightingales
Answered you with trills
Filled with love by your voice.

From the viridescent jasmine,
That Spring made bloom,
Vineyard full of perfumes
The wind that kissed you.

Who said then when I saw you
At this radiant dawn,
That the night, shooting star,
You would be lifeless?

1870

Júlio Dinis (1839-1871)
Portuguese doctor and writer