Pedro Calderon de la Barca Quote

For, as on the coloured canvasSubtle pencils softly blendDark and light in such proportionsThat the dim perspectives end-Now perhaps like famous cities,Now like caves or misty capes,For remoteness ever formethMonstrous or unreal shapes...So it was, while I alone,Saw their bulk and vast proportionsBut their form remained unknown.First they seemed to us upliftingHigh in heaven their pointed towers,Clouds that to the sea descended,To conceive in sapphire showersWhat they would bring forth in crystal.And this fancy seemed more true,As from their untold abundanceThey, methought, could drink the blueDrop by drop. Again sea monstersSeemed to us the wandering droves,Which, to from the train of Neptune,Issued from their green alcoves.For the sails, when lightly shaken,Fanned by zephyrs as by slaves,Seemed to us like outspread pinionsFluttering o'er the darkened waves;Then the mass, approaching nearer,Seemed a mighty Babylon,With its hanging gardens picturesBy the streamers fluttering down.But at last our certain visionUndeceived, becoming true,Showed it was a great armadaFor I saw the prows cut throughFoam....