My lady said that she could love no other,
Though God should come from heaven to be her suitor.
She said – but woman’s words to eager lover
Are writ on wind and the unstable water.
O heart distraught by her so splendid shame,
Thus hath love mazed thee. Now, if she became
Without a flaw thou could’st not wish her well,
Not cease to love, if she were queen in Hell.
I hate and love.
How may this be,
You ask. I do not know.
I only feel ’tis so,
And it is agony.