“I was long ago undeceived that protesting
could bring redress. But whoever suffers
is bound to complain if the pain is great.
So I did! But the cry that could offer
relief is itself feeble and exhausted,
and it is not through weeping that pain abates.”

—  Luís de Camões

Já me desenganei que de queixar-me
não se alcança remédio; mas, quem pena,
forçado lhe é gritar, se a dor é grande.
Gritarei; mas é débil e pequena
a voz para poder desabafar-me,
porque nem com gritar a dor se abrande.
"Vinde cá, meu tão certo secretário", trans. by Landeg White in The Collected Lyric Poems of Luis de Camoes (2016), p. 297
Lyric poetry, Hymns (canções)

Original

Já me desenganei que de queixar-me não se alcança remédio; mas, quem pena, forçado lhe é gritar, se a dor é grande. Gritarei; mas é débil e pequena a voz para poder desabafar-me, porque nem com gritar a dor se abrande.

Lyric poetry, Hymns (canções)

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Luís de Camões photo
Luís de Camões 69
Portuguese poet 1524–1580

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