Poems of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, LIX
Translated from the Spanish by Mason Carnes
Trembling comes the dawn at first, and scarcely dares to pierce the night,
Then it sparkles, grows, expanding in a burning burst of light.
Light is joy, the fearful shadows are the griefs that on me weigh.
Ah! upon my spirit’s darkness when will come the dawn of day?
From Poems of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer (Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1891) by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer. Translated from the Spanish by Mason Carnes. This poem is in the public domain.
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, a Romantic lyric poet who is regarded as one of the first modern Spanish poets, was born on February 17, 1836, in Seville, Spain. He was one of eight children born to Joaquina Bastida y Vargas and the painter José Domínguez Bécquer, who adopted the Bécquer surname as an acknowledgement of his family’s Flemish ancestors. The elder Bécquer died in 1841, and his wife passed away in 1847.