On him, whom once 'twas paradise
Even to behold, now misery lay:[1]
In his own heart 'twas merciless,
To all things else none may express
Its innocence and tenderness.755
'Twas said that he had refuge sought
In love from his unquiet thought
In distant lands, and been deceived
By some strange shew; for there were found,
Blotted with tears as those relieved760
By their own words are wont to do,
These mournful verses on the ground,
By all who read them blotted too.
"How am I changed! my hopes were once like fire:
I loved, and I believed that life was love.765
How am I lost! on wings of swift desire
Among Heaven's winds my spirit once did move.
I slept, and silver dreams did aye inspire
My liquid sleep: I woke, and did approve
All nature to my heart, and thought to make770
A paradise of earth for one sweet sake.
"I love, but I believe in love no more.
I feel desire, but hope not. O, from sleep
Most vainly must my weary brain implore
Its long lost flattery now: I wake to weep,775
And sit through the long day gnawing the core
Of my bitter heart, and, like a miser, keep,
Since none in what I feel take pain or pleasure,
To my own soul its self-consuming treasure."
He dwelt beside me near the sea:780
And oft in evening did we meet,
- ↑ Mr. Rossetti suggests the substitution of weighed for lay.
