Ponce De Leon/Ponce De Leon

Ponce De Leon

Los años con sus dedos de hierro estrangularon
sus juveniles bríos; su vejez singular
se pobló de idas horas, de goces que volaron,
y quiso revivirlos y otra dicha alcanzar,
remover las cenizas de una llama extinguida,
la fuente de Juvencio anheloso buscar,
perseguir la rosada ilusión de la Vida,
y soñando con eso, se lanzó sobre el mar.
El viejo aventurero descubrió la Florida
y la visión edénica en sus ojos prendida
le dió nueva esperanza, mas la Fuente no halló;
la Juventud sus flores ofrecerle no quiso
para adornar sus canas y ver el Paraíso,
pues dicen que una flecha con su vida acabó.

Ponce De Leon

The years with their iron fingers strangled
the brilliance of his youth; his singular old age
Was populated with bygone hours, of pleasures that had flown,
And he wanted to revive them and a different telling offer,
Remove the ashes from an extinguished flame,
The fountain of Youth yearning to seek,
he pursued the rosey illusion of Life,
And dreaming about it, he threw himself onto the sea.
The old adventurer discovered Florida
And the Edenic vision so entrapped in his eyes that it
Gave him new hope, but the Fountain he did not find;
The flowers offered him by Youth he did not want
To adorn his gray hairs and see Paradise,
Well they say that with an arrow his life was finished.