Watch me infamous falter,
collapsing on my cruciformed way to passion's unholy altar;
see me dragged by the undertow,
tumbling in waters that careless o'er my languished body do flow--
Behold my mishapen form,
shriveling in my soul from heaven's indicting storm;
observe my essence dissolve in ice,
dissipation of my virtue for selling it at love's price--
Look and wonder as I relinquish the life I lost,
paying an untold and endless cost;
gaze in breathless disbelief that a man deigned run a risk most certain,
bringing down upon his life, for love twice more true, a pall and shrouding curtain--
And with your eyes astonished staring,
see me relentless yet more daring,
defy my gloating tormentor's cruel pleasures,
plundering those witless tyrants of all their presumed powers and unguarded treasures,
and leading in the end my woes so wicked and solemn sacred sadness in a train of triumph glory,
when at last she will be my song and I will be her story.
For as the world inevitably turns,
my heart unsilenced convulses and ceaseless yearns,
pressing amour's right and its most precious claim,
till heaven and earth yielding grant me love's due honor and take away my shame.
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