Tras de un amoroso lance,
Y no de esperanza falto,
Volé tan alto, tan alto,
Que le di a la caza alcance.
Para que yo alcance diese
A aqueste lance divino,
Tanto volar me convino,
Que de vista me perdiese;
Y con todo, en este trance
En el vuelo quedé falto;
Mas el amor fue tan alto,
Que le di a la caza alcance.
Cuando más alto subía,
Deslumbróseme la vista,
Y la más fuerte conquista
En escuro se hacía;
Mas por ser de amor el lance
Di un ciego y oscuro salto,
Y fui tan alto, tan alto,
Que le di a la caza alcance.
Cuanto más alto llegaba
De este lance tan subido,
Tanto más bajo y rendido
Y abatido me hallaba.
Dije: No habrá quien alcance;
Y abatíme tanto, tanto,
Que fui tan alto, tan alto.
Que le di a la caza alcance.
OTHER VERSES WITH A DIVINE MEANING BY THE SAME
AUTHOR
Not without hope did I ascend
Upon an amorous quest to fly
And up I soared so high, so high,
I seized my quarry in the end.
As on this falcon quest I flew
To chase a quarry so divine,
I had to soar so high and fine
That soon I lost myself from view.
With loss of strength my plight was
sorry
From straining on so steep a course.
But love sustained me with such force
That in the end I seized my quarry.
The more l rose into the height
More dazzled, blind, and lost I spun.
The greatest conquest ever won
I won in blindness, like the night.
Because love urged me on my way
I gave that mad, blind, reckless leap
That soared me up so high and steep
That in the end I seized my prey.
The steeper upward that I flew
On so vertiginous a quest
The humbler and more lowly grew
My spirit, fainting in my breast.
I said ‘None yet can find the way’
But as my spirit bowed more low,
Higher and higher did I go
Till in the end I seized my prey.
By such strange means did I sustain
A thousand starry flights in one,
Since hope of Heaven yet by none
Was ever truly hoped in vain.
Only by hope I won my way
Nor did my hope my aim belie,
Since I soared up so high, so high,
That in the end I seized my prey.
