Classic Poem

FROM THE SPANISH OF LOPE DE VEGA .

To go, and yet to linger on the way;
To linger, and look back, and yet to go;
To hear a syren's pleasant voice, and know
The winds of Fortune waft you far away;
To build gay fabrics in the baseless air;
Like Lucifer, to fall precipitate
From Heaven's high bliss, even to a demon's state;
To sink despairing; nor regret despair;
From Friendship's voice affectionate to fly;
Wildly to rove, and talk in solitude;
To think each passing hour eternity;
All ill expecting, nor to hope for good;
And all the hell of jealousy to prove,
Is to be absent from the maid we love.