Madam Neoteric

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
© Translation: 1995, Richard Zenith

Thanks, M.