| |
From the Spanish
“MY ear-rings! my ear-rings! they ’ve dropt into the well, | |
| And what to say to Muça, I cannot, cannot tell.” | |
| ’T was thus, Granada’s fountain by, spoke Albuharez’ daughter,— | |
| “The well is deep, far down they lie, beneath the cold blue water. | |
| To me did Muça give them, when he spake his sad farewell, | 5 |
| And what to say when he comes back, alas! I cannot tell. | |
| |
| “My ear-rings! my ear-rings! they were pearls in silver set, | |
| That when my Moor was far away, I ne’er should him forget, | |
| That I ne’er to other tongue should list, nor smile on other’s tale, | |
| But remember he my lips had kissed, pure as those ear-rings pale. | 10 |
| When he comes back and hears that I have dropped them in the well, | |
| O, what will Muça think of me, I cannot, cannot tell. | |
| |
| “My ear-rings! my ear-rings! he ’ll say they should have been, | |
| Not of pearl and of silver, but of gold and glittering sheen, | |
| Of jasper and of onyx, and of diamond shining clear, | 15 |
| Changing to the changing light, with radiance insincere; | |
| That changeful mind unchanging gems are not befitting well,— | |
| Thus will he think,—and what to say, alas! I cannot tell. | |
| |
| “He ’ll think when I to market went I loitered by the way; | |
| He ’ll think a willing ear I lent to all the lads might say; | 20 |
| He ’ll think some other lover’s hand among my tresses noosed, | |
| From the ears where he had placed them my rings of pearl unloosed; | |
| He ’ll think when I was sporting so beside this marble well, | |
| My pearls fell in,—and what to say, alas! I cannot tell. | |
| |
| “He ’ll say I am a woman, and we are all the same; | 25 |
| He ’ll say I loved when he was here to whisper of his flame— | |
| But when he went to Tunis my virgin troth had broken, | |
| And thought no more of Muça, and cared not for his token. | |
| My ear-rings! my ear-rings! O, luckless, luckless well! | |
| For what to say to Muça, alas! I cannot tell. | 30 |
| |
| “I ’ll tell the truth to Muça, and I hope he will believe, | |
| That I have thought of him at morn, and thought of him at eve; | |
| That musing on my lover, when down the sun was gone, | |
| His ear-rings in my hand I held, by the fountain all alone, | |
| And that my mind was o’er the sea, when from my hand they fell, | 35 |
| And that deep his love lies in my heart, as they lie in the well.” | |
| |
