“Little by little it ebbs, this life,
if by any chance I am still alive;
my brief time passes before my eyes.
I mourn the past in whatever I say;
as each day passes, step by step
my youth deserts me—what persists is pain.”

Foge-me pouco a pouco a curta vida
(se por caso é verdade que inda vivo);
vai-se-me o breve tempo d'ante os olhos;
choro pelo passado e quando falo,
se me passam os dias passo e passo,
vai-se-me, enfim, a idade e fica a pena.
"Foge-me pouco a pouco a curta vida" http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poem/item/8451, tr. Landeg White in The Collected Lyric Poems of Luis de Camoes (2016), p. 330
Lyric poetry, Sestina

Original

Foge-me pouco a pouco a curta vida (se por caso é verdade que inda vivo); vai-se-me o breve tempo d'ante os olhos; choro pelo passado e quando falo, se me passam os dias passo e passo, vai-se-me, enfim, a idade e fica a pena.

Lyric poetry, Sestina

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Luís de Camões 69
Portuguese poet 1524–1580

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