Blue Illusion - Arquímedes Arci

Haughty and conceited, like a pagan goddess
you passed by me, showing your spite,
and since that day I know that I have lost
the ineffable glory of a dream of love.
I don’t miss your kisses—those were feigned,
nor do I miss your strangely sweet lips…
only the gleam of your eyes pains me
since yesterday they gazed upon me with such passion.

Eyes that were stars
that guided my soul,
that rob me of calm as they cruelly reject me
when I anxiously search for their gaze of love.
Eyes that were the nets
that imprisoned me
when I sincerely adored you, they have enslaved me
by placing this blue illusion in my soul.

But your disdainful, frigid soul
knew nothing of love to ease my pain.
Your eyes deceived me,
so beguiling, with their shine.
And now I’m dragging the chain
of the sad memories
of the lovely past
when I lived joyously
in the golden arms
of that illusion.

---

Arquímedes Arci (died 1938) Brazil
Translated by Derek Del Pilar
Source: Poesía de gotán: The Poetry of the Tango