And with thine eyes so beauteous
Hast thou tormented me sore,
And brought me to utter perdition,—
My loved one, what wouldst thou have more?
64.
He who for the first time loveth,
Though ’tis hopeless, is a God;
But the man who hopeless loveth
For the second time’s—a fool.
I, a fool like this, am loving
Once more, with no love responsive;
Sun and moon and stars are laughing,
I, too, join the laugh and—die.
65.
Never match’d the timid coldness
Of thy spirit, from the first,
With my love’s untutor’d boldness,
Which through rocks delights to burst.
Thou in love dost love the highway,
And I see thee walk through life
With thy husband taking thy way,
As an honest teeming wife!
66.
Counsel they gave me, and good instruction,
Pour’d on me honours, by way of seduction
Said I had only to wait for a while,
And their protection upon me should smile.
Spite the protection they bid me hold cherish’d,
I before long should of hunger have perish’d,
Had I not happen’d a good man to see,
Who took an interest kindly in me.