Translated from the Spanish by Mason Carnes
The miser guards his hoard; so guarded I
My grief; I wished to prove
That there existed something infinite
To her who swore to me eternal love.
To-day I call on it in vain; I hear
Time, who destroyed it, say,
You are not able e’en to suffer pain
Eternally, poor miserable clay!
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.