To Her Portrait
This that you see, the false presentment planned1.
With finest art and all the colored shows
And reasonings of shade, doth but disclose3.
The poor deceits by earthly senses fanned!
Here where in constant flattery expand
Excuses for the stains that old age knows,
Pretexts against the years’ advancing snows,
The footprints of old seasons to withstand;8.
‘Tis but vain artifice of scheming minds;1.
‘Tis but a flower fading on the winds;
‘Tis but a useless protest against Fate;3.
‘Tis but stupidity without a thought,
A lifeless shadow, if we meditate;
‘Tis death, tis dust, tis shadow, yea, ’tis nought.
(trans. Roderick Gill)
Full Colophon Information
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Genre: Poetry
This text was first published in Madrid in 1692
The text of the present edition was initially prepared from and proofed against Hispanic Anthology: Poems Translated from the Spanish by English and North American Poets , ed. Thomas Walsh (New York: G. P. Putnam's Son, 1920). All preliminaries and notes have been omitted except those for which the author is responsible. All editorial notes have been omitted except those that indicate significant textual variations. Line and paragraph numbers contained in the source text have been retained. In cases where the source text displays no numbers, numbers are automatically generated. In the header, personal names have been regularized according to the Library of Congress authority files as "Last Name, First Name" for the REG attribute and "First Name Last Name" for the element value. Names have not been regularized in the body of the text.