Elegy for One Whom I Have Loved

Peace begins with the setting of the sun.
I, with the heaviest heart death e'er gave,
In the coolness that comes when day is done,
Set out in the darkness upon your grave.

Blood-red roses I place on the cold stone
And kneel upon colder dirt, as a tear
Rolls down my face, shed for a love long-gone,
A thread untimely cut; for you, my dear.

Melancholy memories, reflections
On themes of life and death: Eternity
The object of my endless affections
Burying serves as the paternity

For these things. Through my body a shiver
Flows up from my core as if from a spring.
The thought of what put you here a river
Of grief to wash over me causes; King

Priam did not sorrow more when Hector
He lost. The tragedy of your young death
Haunts my soul like a horrendous specter;
The knowledge that never again will breath

Lightly play on your lips to form your voice,
Sweet-sounding and soothing to troubled ears.
You must know how deeply having no choice
Saddened me. It was the sum of all fears

For me, followed by a sense of great shame,
To realize the sin I must commit,
And Infinity has only me to blame
For this passing of life and beauty it

Can never regain. I am sorry that
There was no other way to recompense
The damage. It was as if Fortune spat
In my face; me, whom with my whole essence,

Had loved you. And what of your paramour?
I do not fault him. What man could resist?
Your form brought about the misdemeanor;
Beauty like yours was not meant to exist.

Now I come to the end of my lament.
Here, the reason 'venging Love which betray
You did is worth eternal torment:
If I may not have you, then no one may.