Judith triumphant - Lope Félix de Vega Carpio

From bed to floor dangles
the bloodied right shoulder of the ferocious tyrant,
who vainly stormed the wall of Bethulia,
hurling bolts towards the heavens but against himself.
In agony enshrouded, the red veil
of the pavilion, on the left side,
reveals the inhuman spectacle
of his hideous torso, now rendered in ice.

Bacchus’s residue stains his mighty armour,
the glasses and the table overturned;
the guards who failed him slumber;

And there, crowning the wall
of the people of Israel, the Hebrew woman
appears pure, resplendently armed with his head.

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Lope Félix de Vega Carpio (1562 - 1635) Spain
Translation by Scott Horton
Source: Harper's Magazine