Let Me Go Warm

Let me go warm and merry still;
And let the world laugh, an’ it will.

Let other muse on earthly things,–
The fall of thrones, the fate of kings,
And those whose fame the world doth fill;
Whilst muffins sit enthroned in trays
And orange-punch in winter sways
The merry scepter of my days;–
And let the world laugh, an’ it will.

He that the royal purple wears,
From golden plate a thousand cares
Doth swallow as a gilded pill;
On feasts like these I turn my back,
Whilst puddings in my roasting-jack
Beside the chimney hiss and crack;–
And let the world laugh, an’ it will.

And when the wintry tempest blows,
And January’s sleets and snows
Are spread o’er every vale and hill,
With one to tell a merry tale
O’er roasted nuts and humming ale,
I sit, and care not for the gale;–
And let the world laugh, an’ it will.

Let merchants traverse seas and lands
For silver mines and golden sands;
Whilst I beside some shadowry rill
Just where its bubbling fountain swells
Do sit and gather stones and shells,
And hear the tale the blackbird tells;–
And let the world laugh, an’ it will.

For Hero’s sake the Grecian lover
The stormy Hellespont swam over;
I cross without the fear of ill
The wooden bridge that slow bestrides
The madrigal’s enchanting sides,
Or barefoot wade through Yepe’s tides;–
And let the world laugh, an’ it will.

But since the Fates so cruel prove,
That Pyramus should die of love,
And love should gentle Thisbe kill;
My Thisbe be an apple-tart,
The sword I plunge into her heart
The tooth that bites the crust apart,–
And let the world laugh, an’ it will.

Luis de Góngora

translated by H. W. Longfellow