1. O you who put to shame the bending bough if it but sway,
And who expose the gleaming teeth if they but smile,

2. A lover ransoms you from me, strange his plight,
Yet he comes not to err, but rather to make amends.

3. My wariness avails me naught 'gainst you,
Alas! Vain the wariness, when love decimates prudence.

4. Your love was but an ordained affliction,
Can man thwart what is foreordained?