Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79. | | | | Spain: Manzanares, the River | | The Flood of the Manzanares | | Luis de Góngora (1561–1627) |
| | Translated by Edward Churton
HAVE mercy, Manzanares! out, alas! | |
| Have mercy on that bridge! For, people say, | |
| A bridge so wide might let the Gulf-stream pass | |
| While half an arch might give thy current way. | |
| How proudly swoln comes down thy watery mass, | 5 |
| Which late, as in the dog-days, lowly lay! | |
| Now, in the name of him whose scheme it was | |
| To scour the town with chickory, and convey | |
| The drench to thee,—why this unusual height? | |
| Why this amazing change to bliss from bale, | 10 |
| Why now in glory, then in penal pain? | |
| Well, if you ’ll keep the secret, yesternight | |
| The laundry-nymphs up-stream each filled her pail, | |
| To-day they ’ve thrown the soap-suds out again. | | | | |
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