Lope de Vega

Rimas Sacras, Soneto I

Cuando me paro a contemplar mi estado
y a ver los pasos por donde he venido,
me espanto de que un hombre tan perdido
a conocer su error haya llegado.

Cuando miro los años que he pasado,
la divina razón puesta en olvido,
conozco que piedad del cielo ha sido
no haberme en tanto mal precipitado.

Entré por laberinto tan extraño,
fiando al débil hilo de la vida
el tarde conocido desengaño;

mas de tu luz mi escuridad vencida,
el monstruo muerto de mi ciego engaño,
vuelve a la patria la razón perdida.



Sacred Poems, Sonnet I

When I pause to contemplate my circumstance,
and look back on the road I have traversed,
I am astonished that so lost a man
the error of his ways could recognize.

When I look back upon the years I've spent
forgetful then of all reason divine,
I see that it has been by heaven's grace
that into evil's pit I did not slide.

I entered through so strange a labyrinth,
trusting that the weak thread of my life
would let me see, though late, my own confusion;

but by Your light my darkness overcome,
the monster slain of my blind self-deceit,
lost reason comes home for its apt conclusion. 

                     (©Alix Ingber, 1995)



 E-mail your comments and questions to:

Alix Ingber
Professor of Spanish
Sweet Briar College

ingber@sbc.edu



Navigation