Venice masks

Monday, 13 February 2023

Song about the Pain of Love and Sea - Pai Gomez Charinho

Those who spend their lives at sea
think there is no pain in the world
as great as their pain, and no fate worse
than a seaman’s fate, but consider me:
            the pain of love made me forget
            the pain of sea, so cruel and yet

As nothing next to that greatest pain,
the pain of love that God ordains.
The pain of sea is a pain unto death,
but I discovered it can’t compare
            to the pain of love, which made me forget
            my seaman’s pain, terrible and yet

As nothing next to the greatest of all
the pains that are, were or will come.
Those who have never been in love
can’t know the pain I feel, because
            the pain of love makes one forget
            all other pains, cruel and yet

As nothing next to the pain that exceeds
even the deathly pain of sea.

Pai Gomez Charinho (1225 – 1295) Galatia, Spain
Translated by Richard Zenith

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