To the Poet Martyr

Juan Diaz Covarrubias I To-day, when at thy death Rises a song from every lute, And by which thou makest for thyself An altar of thy coffin; United to that youth Which thy history has just perused, While it sings the praises Which, through thee, spring from I also wish to place [their breasts, My offering upon the altar. II In the tomb where hovers Thy august and beloved spirit Lies broken, mute and asleep, The lyre of thy soul. Its chords will never more resound For fatherland or love, Except in the midst of sorrow Which sighs over thy marble-stone; That sublime silence Which is thy grandest song. III This the song that rises From the harp of patriotism; This the same silence As liberty which sings, For in that holy conflict Where retrocession caused thee pain, When yielding under the weight Of that struggle which nothing Progress rose in joy [respects. Above the corpse of the poet. IV A monster whose memory Almost surpasses the dreadful, Who climed in Tacubaya To the scaffold of fame. Sacrificing thy glory he Believed his triumph more certain, Seeing not his mistake, And in his cruelty forgetting That words and songs are more mute Than the tongue of the dead. V From thy existence He early tore the budding flower, Destroying in it the pride Of the American lyre. Thy superior inspiration Revolved before his contemptible But thy exquisite pen, [infamy, Before breaking its flight, Took heaven for its page And wrote the eleventh of April. VI The fatherland to whom thou Didst offer thy holy life in tribute Weeps, and is clad In mourning in memory of thee; And breaking the best fruit From its glorious orchard, Erects to thee an altar, and upon it Crowns thy noble endurance With the double reward Of the palm and the laurel. VII If thy anxiety was to climb And rise to the infinite, Longing to leave thy name Written in the future, Well mayest thou sleep in peace, Inert within thy tomb, Whilst thy native land, on seeing thee, Proudly contemplates. That if thy life was beautiful, More beautiful was thy death. 1872.