The Lusiad (extract from Book I: Sailing to Mombasa) - Luís Vas de Camões

Between the isle and Ethiopia's land

A narrow current laves each adverse strand;

Close by the margin where the green tide flows,

Full to the bay a lordly city rose;

With fervid blaze the glowing evening pours

Its purple splendours o'er the lofty towers;

The lofty towers with milder lustre gleam,

And gently tremble in the glassy stream.

Here reign'd a hoary king of ancient fame;

Mombas the town, Mombas the island's name.

As when the pilgrim, who with weary pace

Thro' lonely wastes untrod by human race,

For many a day disconsolate has stray'd,

The turf his bed, the wild-wood boughs his shade,

O'erjoy'd beholds the cheerful seats of men

In grateful prospect rising on his ken:

So Gama joy'd, who many a dreary day

Had traced the vast, the lonesome, wat'ry way,

Had seen new stars, unknown to Europe, rise,

And brav'd the horrors of the polar skies:

So joy'd his bounding heart when, proudly rear'd,

The splendid city o'er the wave appear'd,

Where Heaven's own lore, he trusted, was obey'd,

And Holy Faith her sacred rites display'd.

And now, swift crowding through the hornèd bay,

The Moorish barges wing'd their foamy way,

To Gama's fleet with friendly smiles they bore

The choicest products of their cultur'd shore.

But there fell rancour veil'd its serpent-head,

Though festive roses o'er the gifts were spread.

For Bacchus, veil'd in human shape, was here,

And pour'd his counsel in the sov'reign's ear.

O piteous lot of man's uncertain state!

What woes on Life's unhappy journey wait!

When joyful Hope would grasp its fond desire,

The long-sought transports in the grasp expire.

By sea what treach'rous calms, what rushing storms,

And death attendant in a thousand forms!

By land what strife, what plots of secret guile,

How many a wound from many a treach'rous smile!

Oh where shall man escape his num'rous foes,

And rest his weary head in safe repose!

---

Luís Vas de Camões (c. 1524–1580) Portugal

Translated by W. J. Mickle

Source: The Lusiad, by Luís de Camões, George Bell & Sons, 1877 [Project Gutenberg]

This section describes the journey from islands in the Indian Ocean to Mombasa on the East African coast, and concludes Book 1 of The Lusiad.