Mercedes Belzú de Dorado was born in La Paz, Bolivia in 1835, and died in 1879 at the age of 44. She was the daughter of the general Manuel Isidoro Belzú, a one-time president of Bolivia, and the acclaimed Argentine novelist, Juana Manuela Gorriti. She was a writer, poet, and translator of varied works, including those authored by Víctor Hugo, Lamartine, and Shakespeare.
from the article:
Shakespeare Imitation [Excerpt]
Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow. And then another day! And after that, another follows, Running, full force Toward the oblivion of an immense eternity So go the fleeting hours! In a measured and monotonous track, Lighting the path to ‘all-forgotten’ Toward which, pitiful humanity races forever.
A day just arrived and it has vanished: Ephemeral as the next; As eternal time continues, Throwing into nothingness what it has barely crafted. And man, mysterious guest Of death’s daft feast, goes by in vain Imperceptible grain of sand, That desert winds pick up.
[…]
[And] in the [aged, time] does death anxiously invoke; That fateful shadow friend, Who, stretching out a cold, practiced hand, Guides mortals to the final asylum. Oh existence! Fugue of light Or better yet, sad shade, vain and vagrant; Like an actor who makes himself up In a fugitive hour of pleasure.
To whom all listen in the moment; Who in an instant grows haughty, And who past this, disappears Into obscurity. You are like the tale an idiot Tells in the turbulent grips of madness; Full of sound, and fury and motion!… Trapping, only, a vague darkness!