Believe me, I know;
Your honey’s poison
And your lips a trap.
Yet, I am a fool;
For love I’d sell my soul.
And what thine love it is;
Pure white, shining diamond!
Out of reach, yet so close;
Why must you torture me
Leaving wanton wishing
For more and more and more?
I imbibe thine poison
And bite your dripping lips,
I strew myself ‘cross the floor;
Bits and pieces of myself
I’d sold for your love,
Yet your heart wishes more;
‘Tis all-devouring passion
That e’en cold stones
Turns to brimstone warm!
And, oh, do I melt!
Rendered defenseless,
My bastion breach’d;
Thine flame hath burn’d
My soul, my essence!
What now, has man,
Naked, lost, forlorn,
But himself,
And I am myself
No more,
For I felt the sting
Of white love.