Explore "The Heavens" by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
On the death of the most excellent Señora Marquesa de Mancera
The heavens, enamored of the comeliness / of Laura, stole her away, took her on high, / for it did not seem correct to illumine / these unhappy valleys in that pure light; / or because mere mortals, deceived, misguided / by the beauteous structure of her body, / astonished at the sight of extreme beauty, / did not consider themselves as fortunate.
She was born where the east draws a scarlet veil / at the rising of the rubicund star, / and she died where, with burning, ardent desire, / the depths of the sea swallows that red light; / for it was needed for her divine flight / that like the sun she travel around the world.