[Footnote 1: The 1st, 8th, and 9th stanzas of this poem are in octosyllabic verses, and the rest in hendecasyllabic verses of both classes, with heptasyllabic verses alternating. A refrain of dissyllabic verse begins at the close of the 3d stanza and recurs after that regularly at the close of every other stanza. The even verses of each stanza have the same assonance throughout, as does the refrain. Notice the hiatus in the 3d verse of the 4th stanza and in the 1st verse of the 6th stanza.]
[Footnote 2: Dormida. All of the texts that have been consulted read Despierta, but the contrast throughout the poem between the two ideas seems to warrant the reading given here, and Mrs. Ward in her translation of the poem (see Macmillan's Mag., Feb., 1883, p. 317) so renders it:
Asleep, the corners of thy mouth
A light smile upcurls,
Sweet as the luminous trail
Left by the dying sun—
Sleep!
[Footnote 3: los ... leve. Prose order—(una) leve sonrisa pliega los extremos...]
[Footnote 4: Cual... transparente. Prose order—Cual (una) lámpara transparente derrama (un) templado rayo de luz.]
[Footnote 5: Notice Mrs. Ward's translation of this stanza:
Awake thou speak'st, and as thou speak'st, thy words
Vibrating seem
A rain of pearls that in a golden cup
Plashes in torrents.
XXIX[1]
Sobre la falda tenía
El libro abierto;En mi mejilla tocaban
Sus rizos negros;
No veíamos las letras
Ninguno, creo;
Mas guardábamos entrambos
Hondo silencio.
¿Cuanto duro? Ni aún entonces
Pude saberlo;
Sólo sé que no se oía
Más que el aliento,
Que apresurado escapaba
Del labio seco.
Sólo sé que nos volvimos
Los dos á un tiempo,
Y nuestros ojos se hallaron,
Y sonó un beso.
* * *
Creació de Dante era el libro,
Era su Infierno.[2]
Cuando á él bajamos los ojos,
Yo dije trémulo:
—¿Comprendes ya que un poema
Cabe en un verso?[3]
Y ella respondió encendida:
—¡Ya lo comprendo!
[Footnote 1: This poem is composed of alternating octosyllabic and pentasyllabic verses, the latter having the same assonance throughout. Notice that the 5th verse from the end is a verso esdrújulo.]