( Tu se’ lo mio maestro, e ’l mio autore ).
Great Pilgrim-poet of the Sea and Land; Thou life-long sport of Fortune’s ficklest will; Doomed to all human and inhuman ill, Despite thy lover-heart, thy hero-hand:
Enrollèd by thy pen what marv’ellous band Of god-like Forms thy golden pages fill; Love, Honour, Justice, Valour, Glory thrill The Soul, obedient to thy strong command:
Amid the Prophets highest sits the Bard, At once Revealer of the Heav’en and Earth, To Heav’en the guide, of Earth the noblest guard;
And, ’mid the Poets thine the peerless worth, Whose glorious song, thy Genius’ sole reward, Bids all the Ages, Camões! bless thy birth.
R. F. B.