I feel the lightning flicker round my head;

The blizzards buffet me, but I remain

Dumb as the dead!

Urged by the goad of stern taskmaster Time,

The Seasons come and go, the years roll round.

I watch them from my solitude sublime,

Uttering no sound.

For hate and love I have nor love nor hate;

To be alone is not to be forlorn:

The only armour against pitiless Fate