170 [Val.] And why not death rather than living torment?

To die is to be banish’d from myself;

And Silvia is myself: banish’d from her,

Is self from self: a deadly banishment!

What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?

III. 1.
175 What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?

Unless it be to think that she is by,

And feed upon the shadow of perfection.

Except I be by Silvia in the night,

There is no music in the nightingale;