| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893. | | | | Appendix | II. Unacknowledged and Uncollected Translations.
Ideal Beauty |
| | By Hernando de Herrera
O LIGHT serene! present in him who breathes | |
| That love divine, which kindles yet restrains | |
| The high-born soul—that in its mortal chains | |
| Heavenward aspires for love’s immortal wreaths! | |
| Rich golden locks, within whose clustered curls | 5 |
| Celestial and eternal treasures lie! | |
| A voice that breathes angelic harmony | |
| Among bright coral and unspotted pearls! | |
| What marvellous beauty! Of the high estate | |
| Of immortality, within this light | 10 |
| Transparent veil of flesh, a glimpse is given; | |
| And in the glorious form, I contemplate, | |
| (Although its brightness blinds my feeble sight,) | |
| The immortal still I seek and follow on to Heaven! | | | | |
|
|
