In your faith and constancy you are so strong
You will embody virtue your whole life long.
On the Same Subject in the Satiric Mode
Decima
In Flanders soil he drove a pike.
He drove even more, to wit,
He drove a Frenchman to take flight,
Screaming that he'd been badly hit.
Oh, he made a sorry sight.
Piteous how that man ran.
A foe may suddenly appear,
But I find I have naught to fear:
For in Ghent there is no better man
Than Alatriste, our brave capitan.
CONDE DE GUADALMEDINA
On the Sojourn of Charles,
Prince 0f Wales, in Madrid
Sonnet
As he would win the fair infanta's hand,
The Prince of Wales came boldly to her land.
Whereon he found that such an enterprise
Is won not by the rash, but by the wise.
To win his suit, he swooped down one fine day,
Like an eagle, certain of his prey,
But found a troth, alas! will have no weight
When abrogated by affairs of state.
Thus Charles learned about diplomacy:
In the rough seas of the Spanish court
The most dauntless pilot may be brought up short.
As a dashing prince, similarly,
Will not wear upon his brow the wreath
Unless he persevere to his last breath.
FROM THE SAME HAND
To the Lord of La Torre de Juan Abad
with Similes from the Lives of the Saints
Rhymed octave
Behind good Roch, lame supplicant,
Behind Ignatius, chivalrous and valiant.
Behind Dominic, in combating a Protestant,
Behind John Chrysostom, so famously eloquent,
Behind Jerome, in learning and Jewish cant,
Behind Paul, the tactful and prudent,
Finally comes Quevedo, behind even Thomas,
And for every target, he brings his harquebus.