The heron nests in the mountains:
she takes to the heights, no bird
can reach as high as she can,
she is not to be touched.
My anxious thought has found
her refuge out, but still
the more you make pursuit,
the more she fends you off.
For me it is enough
to follow her and hold her
in view, for the eye’s pleasure.
She is not to be held.
Many have followed her
thinking to take her, yet
whoever finds himself
closest is first forgotten.
What more could a man desire
than but to look on her,
devotion thus repaid?
She is not to be grasped.
I have never seen a creature
so fine, so elegant,
so far beyond possessing.
From her great height she disdains
all men who hope; and therefore,
being so beautiful,
she makes the world her captive.
She, though, will not be caught.
after Juan del Encina