Jose Maria de Heredia

22 November 1842 - 3 October 1905 / Fortuna Cafeyere

To The Divine Mountains

Blue glaciers, peaks of marble, granite, slate,
Moraines whence winds from Begle to Nethou
The wheat and rye send blighting ruin through,
Lqakes, woods of shade and nest, steep crags serrate;

Dark vales and caves - the ancient exile's fate,
Who ne'er submitting to the tyrant crew,
The chamois, bear, the wolf, and eagle knew -
Abysses, torrents, cliffs, blest be your state!

From the harsh town and prison having flown,
Thy twin slave to the Mountains rears this stone -
The sacred guard of liberty to be;

And on these silence-pulsing summits clear,
In the all-boundless air so pure and free,
I trust a freeman's cry again to hear!
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