Note L — Chapter IV · FROM THE ARGENSÓLAS AND OTHER POETS TO GONGÓRA.
Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen translation
One of his sapphics is written with so much delicacy and beauty that I cannot resist the temptation of translating it.
To the Zephyr.
"Sweet neighbour of the green, leaf-shaking grove, Eternal guest of April, frolic child Of a sad sire, life-breath of mother Love, Favonius, zephyr mild! If thou hast learned like me to love—away! Thou who hast borne the murmurs of my cry; Hence—no demur—and to my Flora say, Say that 'I die!' 'Flora once knew what bitter tears I shed; Flora once wept to see my sorrows flow; Flora once loved me, but I dread, I dread Her anger now.' So may the Gods, so may the calm blue sky, For the fair time that thou, in gentle mirth, Sport'st in the air, with love benign deny Snows to the earth! So never may the grey cloud's cumbrous sail, When from on high the rosy daybreak springs, Beat on thy shoulders, nor its evil hail Wound thy fine wings!"