Note 78 — Chapter IX
Reading edition
It is in quintillas in the original; but that stanza, I think, can never, in English, be made flowing and easy as it is in Spanish. I have, therefore, used in this translation a freedom greater than I have generally permitted to myself, in order to approach, if possible, the bold outline of the original thought. It begins thus:—
Y dexas, pastor santo, Tu grey en este valle hondo escuro Con soledad y llanto, Y tu rompiendo el puro Ayre, te vas al immortal seguro! Los antes bien hadados, Y los agora tristes y afligidos, A tus pechos criados, De tí desposeidos, A dó convertirán ya sus sentidos?
Obras de Luis de Leon, Madrid, 1816, Tom. VI. p. 42.