A kitten plays
Trying hard to catch its tail
As in our different hearts
Love entertains itself.
I am with a fine maid,
Staying in the life of a fine gentlewoman
And coveting another maid
With a charm to command my heart
Bestowed on her by an unseen glory.
Sadly, she never spies even my shadow.
All I own I waste on the fine gentlewoman in sight,
A path of sad smiles,
A narrow spot where I shall
Not be too arid of joy in muddy agitation.
In the silent dark
When benign dreams become nightmares,
My gape eyes wish
The sight of the head in the pillow next to me was another’s
But my love she marooned.
This cup of cellar I possess
Shall not pass untasted
Ergo, all tenderness I boast I confer
On the lucky head next to unlucky me
As I’d have wished another do unto me.
