1. Joy and bliss of our life have departed,
And companionship’s cheer left each lover downhearted,

2. Without me, dark lions circle your abode,
Yet weaponless, how can I dare fight this foreboded?

3. For my weakness they mocked and their might extolled,
To hush my voice, even your name not to be told,

4. A watcher they set, no whisper of you missed,
Nor breath of yearning, when you were sweetly recalled,

5. To count every breath and forbid even a nod,
If your memory wafted, to smell your fragrance divine,

6. Even from whispers I’m banned, though balm to repined,
Yet still you I recalled, when anguish was mined,

7. No doom could befall me, no death make me pine,
Except loving you purely, that virtue of thine,

8. You grasped what beyond the soul, no end could confine,
In heart’s crevices resting, made there your shrine,

9. Those yours deemed me ill, lies heeded and maligned,
From gossiping tongues and every backbiter’s slime,

10. They claimed I betrayed, other love to purloin,
When true I had been, of your loyal lieges sublime,

11. Longings I have, beyond words of man to define,
Nor bloom of gardens, nor poets in rhyme,

12. Disown them you may, yet carried with time,
To you they arrived, and your ears they did find,

13. When darkness recedes, you will know in good time,
Who scorned you, who still to your memory was shrined,

14. I shunned you, betrayed, though you I resigned,
Never your troth-plight breaking, or trust undermined