Page:Iracéma, the honey-lips (1886).djvu/16

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IRAÇÉMA.

child, and a mastiff, who both first saw the light in the cradle of the forest, and who sport like brothers, the sons of the same savage soil.

The intermittent breathings from the shore waft an echo which, rising high above the ripple of the waves, sounds forth—

"Iraçéma!" * * *

The young warrior, leaning against the mast, raises his eyes, which are fixed upon the fleeting outline of the shadowy shore. From time to time his sight be-
comes dim, and a tear falls upon the Giráo-bench,[1] where frolic the two innocents, the companions of his misfortune.

At such moments his soul flies to his lips in a bitter smile.

What left he in that land of exile?

A tale which they told me on the beautiful plains that saw my birth, during the hush of night, whilst the moon, sailing through the heavens, silvered the prairies; whilst the breezes murmured amid the palm groves.

The wind freshens.

The surf rolls in higher billows. The barque leaps upon the waves—disappears on the horizon. Wide yawns the waste of waters. The storm broods, condor-
like, with dusky wings over the abyss.

God keep thee safe, stout barque, amidst the boil-
ing billows ! God steer thee to some friendly bight ! May softer breezes waft thee, and for thee may the calm jasper seas be like plains of milk !

But whilst thou sailest thus at the mercy of the winds, graceful barque, waft back to that white beach some of the yearning[2] that accompanies thee, but which may not leave the land to which it returns.

  1. ↑ Giráo, a sort of rude bench for sitting upon in the Jangada raft.
  2. ↑ Yearning, in the original saudade—an untranslatable Portu-
    guese word for which we have no equivalent ; it means a soft sad regret for some person, place, or happy time missed and past—in fac՚, the Latin desiderium.
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