"I am an abyss of crimes"
Dublin Core
Title
"I am an abyss of crimes"
Subject
Theatre--Seventeenth Century--Pedro Calderón de la Barca--Saint Patrick's Purgatory
Description
"LUIS. Father, if my name I told,
I'm afraid that swiftly flying,
With a terror uncontrolled..."
I'm afraid that swiftly flying,
With a terror uncontrolled..."
Creator
Pedro Calderón de la Barca, 1600-1681
Source
Barca, Pedro Calderón de la, The Purgatory of St. Patrick, trans. by Denis Florence MacCarthy, Act III, Scene VIII
Publisher
Henry S. King & Co., London
Date
1873
Contributor
Digitised for Project Gutenberg
Rights
Public domain
Format
Collected Plays
Language
Spanish (English trans.)
Type
Play
Text
Identifier
DD_0065
Coverage
54.6083, -7.8714
References
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6371
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
"LUIS. Father, if my name I told,
I'm afraid that swiftly flying,
With a terror uncontrolled,
You would leave me: for my works
Are so shocking to unfold,
That to see them not, the sun
Wraps him round in mourning robes.
I am an abyss of crimes,
A wild sea that has no shore;
I am a broad map of guilt,
And the greatest sinner known.
Yes, in me, to tell it briefly
In one comprehensive word
(Here my breath doth almost fail me),
Luis Enius behold!
I come here this cave to enter,
If for sins so manifold
Aught can ever satisfy,
Let my penance thus atone
To the Bishop of Hibernia
I've confessed, and am absolved,
Who informed of my intention
With a gracious love consoled
All my fears, and unto thee
Sent these letters I unfold.
FIRST CANON. Do not in a single day
Take, my son, a step so bold,
For these things require precaution
More than can at once be told.
Stay here as our guest some days,
Then at leisure we can both
See about it and decide.
LUIS. No, my father, no, oh, no!
Never from the ground I'll rise,
Where here prostrate I am thrown,
Till you grant to me this good.
It was God that touched my soul,
And inspired me to come here;
Not a vain desire to know,
Not ambition to find out
Secrets God, perchance, withholds.
Do not baffle this intention,
For the call is heaven's alone.
Oh, my father! yield in pity,
With me in my griefs condole,
Give my sorrows consolation,
Heal the anguish of my soul.
FIRST CANON. Luis, you have not considered
what you ask of me; you know
Nothing of the infernal torments
You must bear: to undergo
These your strength is insufficient.
Many are there, more the woe!
Who go in, but few, alas!
Who return." (Act III, Scene VIII)
I'm afraid that swiftly flying,
With a terror uncontrolled,
You would leave me: for my works
Are so shocking to unfold,
That to see them not, the sun
Wraps him round in mourning robes.
I am an abyss of crimes,
A wild sea that has no shore;
I am a broad map of guilt,
And the greatest sinner known.
Yes, in me, to tell it briefly
In one comprehensive word
(Here my breath doth almost fail me),
Luis Enius behold!
I come here this cave to enter,
If for sins so manifold
Aught can ever satisfy,
Let my penance thus atone
To the Bishop of Hibernia
I've confessed, and am absolved,
Who informed of my intention
With a gracious love consoled
All my fears, and unto thee
Sent these letters I unfold.
FIRST CANON. Do not in a single day
Take, my son, a step so bold,
For these things require precaution
More than can at once be told.
Stay here as our guest some days,
Then at leisure we can both
See about it and decide.
LUIS. No, my father, no, oh, no!
Never from the ground I'll rise,
Where here prostrate I am thrown,
Till you grant to me this good.
It was God that touched my soul,
And inspired me to come here;
Not a vain desire to know,
Not ambition to find out
Secrets God, perchance, withholds.
Do not baffle this intention,
For the call is heaven's alone.
Oh, my father! yield in pity,
With me in my griefs condole,
Give my sorrows consolation,
Heal the anguish of my soul.
FIRST CANON. Luis, you have not considered
what you ask of me; you know
Nothing of the infernal torments
You must bear: to undergo
These your strength is insufficient.
Many are there, more the woe!
Who go in, but few, alas!
Who return." (Act III, Scene VIII)
Original Format
Monograph
Citation
Pedro Calderón de la Barca, 1600-1681, “"I am an abyss of crimes",” Digital Derg: A Deep Map, accessed April 26, 2024, https://digitalderg.eu/items/show/65.