Eternal to a brief and hollow truce,

How have I fallen!--when 'tis truth we lose,

Mere sense survives our reason's dear decease.

I know not if my heart bred this disease,

That still more pleasing grows with growing use;

Or else thy face, thine eyes, in which the hues

And fires of Paradise dart ecstasies.

Thy beauty is no mortal thing; 'twas sent

From heaven on high to make our earth divine:

Wherefore, though wasting, burning, I'm content;