“Sweet I sang in former days,
Kind love perfected my lays:
Now my art alone displays
The woe that on my being preys.
“Charming love, delicious power,
Worshipped from my earliest hour,
Thou who life on all dost shower,
Love! my life thou dost devour.
“In death’s hour I beg of thee,
Isoude, dearest enemy,