For a long time I dwelt under vast porticos

Long since, I lived beneath vast porticoes,

Which the ocean suns lit with a thousand colors,

By many ocean-sunsets tinged and fired,

The pillars of which, tall, straight, and majestic,

Where mighty pillars, in majestic rows,

Made them, in the evening, like basaltic grottos.

Seemed like basaltic caves when day expired.

The billows which cradled the image of the sky

The rolling surge that mirrored all the skies

Mingled, in a solemn, mystical way,

Mingled its music, turbulent and rich,

The omnipotent chords of their rich harmonies

Solemn and mystic, with the colours which

With the sunsets' colors reflected in my eyes;

The setting sun reflected in my eyes.

It was there that I lived in voluptuous calm,

And there I lived amid voluptuous calms,

In splendor, between the azure and the sea,

In splendours of blue sky and wandering wave,

And I was attended by slaves, naked, perfumed,

Tended by many a naked, perfumed slave,

Who fanned my brow with fronds of palms

Who fanned my languid brow with waving palms.

And whose sole task it was to fathom

They were my slaves — the only care they had

The dolorous secret that made me pine away.

To know what secret grief had made me sad.