Garcilaso de la Vega -Soneto XVIII. Si a vuestra voluntad yo soy de cera...-

Soneto XVIII. Si a vuestra voluntad yo soy de cera...

Si a vuestra voluntad yo soy de cera,
y por sol tengo sólo vuestra vista,
la cual a quien no inflama, o no conquista
con su mirar, es de sentido fuera;

de do viene una cosa, que si fuera
menos veces de mí probada y vista,
según parece que a razón resista,
a mi sentido mismo no creyera,

y es que yo soy de lejos inflamado
de vuestra ardiente vista y encendido
tanto, que en vida me sostengo apenas.

Mas si de cerca soy acometido
de vuestros ojos, luego siento helado
cuajárseme la sangre por las venas.


Sonnet XVIII. If I am wax submitting to your will...

If I am wax, submitting to your will
and take to be the sun only your eyes,
which anyone their glance does not ignite
with their gaze surely is of sense deprived;

from which I can deduce that if I were
of seeing them and feeling them relieved,
as it appears that reason they resist,
my very senses I would not believe,

for I am from afar engulfed in flames
by your impassioned gaze, and I am so
burned up that my life is but scarce maintained.

But if from close up I am set upon
by your eyes, then I feel, in frozen state
my very blood congeal within my veins.

Translated by Alix Ingber