The Torments Of Love

Fragments 84, 45, 82, 36, 38, 37, 40, 80, 50, 55, and 42 combined. O Queens of Song, descend from your home. From the golden halls of Olumpus on high! O shell divine, now, now become Voiceful, to utter mine heart's wild cry! O Calliope, vouchsafe thine aid Unto one whom the Muse of Love hath betrayed! Ah me, I know not what to do Who am wildered all, in a strait betwixt two! I cry from a homeless heart storm-tossed As a child for her mother, a young child lost. Yet not after all-unattainable things Do I strain, nor I hope on passion's wings To soar to the heavens' empyreal blue. But oh, I yearn, how I yearn to slake My thirst where Love's feet brush the dew! For he who the strength of the mighty can break, He whose bitter sweetness no tongue may tell, The dragon whose onslaught none may quell, Love — mine whole being doth Love's breath shake. Ah, sleep I cannot: soft-cushioned bed Wooes never my wearied frame to sleep; No pillow brings rest to my throbbing head. From my couch, as one in a nightmare, I leap. Ever Eros is tossing to and fro My spirit, as when great storm-winds blow O'er a tempest-tormented mountain-steep, And down on its groaning oak-woods sweep; So groaneth my spirit, love-scourged so.