Threads of the Purest Gold Cannot Outdo by Luis de Góngora y Argote

Threads of the purest gold cannot outdo
your beautiful hair glowing in the sun;
whilst your white face, in absolute scorn,
stares down at the most beautiful bloom;

your crimson lips are now eagerly chased
by many eyes like a spring carnation;
as your exquisite neck, in elation
overpowers the radiance of your necklace;

relish neck, hair, lips, brow, savour them all
before the pass of time destroys the lot:
gold, lily, carnation, necklace, all shall

become bleak silver, blossom that will rot,
and hereafter you, and your body all,
turn into soil, smoke, a shadow, naught.

From: Salavert, Jorge, “Three Spanish Golden Age Sonnets” in Colloquy: text theory critique, 22 (2011), p. 278.
(http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ecps/colloquy/journal/issue022/salavert.pdf)

Date: c1582 (original in Spanish); 2011 (translation in English)

By: Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561-1627)

Translated by: Jorge Salavert (19??- )