I Saw The Prettiest Girl In Town Poem by Gert Strydom

(after Luis de Góngora y Argote)

I saw the prettiest girl in town
standing alone a the pier, looking at the sea
where the love of her life had drown
and from life she wished to be free
with tears in her sparkling blue eyes,
as the love of her life was gone
and days with sparkling skies
passed and still she sobbed on and on:

“leave me and let me be,
to cry alone at the sea.”

Nights and days slipped by
and day-by-day I saw her
watching the seagulls fly
clasping her hands together
and she said nothing to me
but at times her eyes caught mine
with a message in them while she kept her own company
watching the rising sun that was the colour of wine

“leave me and let me be,
to cry alone at the sea”

and I left her there in tranquillity,
wishing her to find harmony
but still in my mind
stays the girl at the sea

and now it feels as if she is beaconing me
calling every night and day
and from her voice I cannot be free
and she sounds pretty and gay:

“come to me, come to me,
I am waiting for you at the sea.”

[Reference: “La Más Bella Niña” by Luis de Góngora y Argote.]