Grim death may come and take me without strain;
I’ll not resist or ask for lesser measure.
And you, who even now know not the chains
With which this age imprisons a heart,
Diego—free from pleasures and from pains—
Keep, thus, far hence the prick of passion’s dart;
So to the last, dear Alatriste, keep
Alone, alone, until the final sleep.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arturo Pérez-Reverte lives near Madrid. Originally a war journalist, he now writes fiction full-time. His novels The Flanders Panel, The Club Dumas, The Fencing Master, The Seville Communion, The Nautical Chart, and The Queen of the South have been translated into twenty-nine languages and published in more than fifty countries. In 2003, Pérez-Reverte was elected to the Spanish Royal Academy. Visit his website at www.perez-reverte.com.