Ah Me

I say to my heart, "Be still!Beat not against my breastWith all this fierce unrest;I am ill, I am ill,—Fainting, sinking in the fireOf a passionate desireThat consumes my thought and will."

I say to my soul, "In vainYou beat your restless wings'Gainst the cruel bars of thingsThat imprison and restrain;Turn your eyes away, be strong,Captive shall you be not long,But your prisen rent in twain."

That life should be, ah me!Longing, and never joy;Paltry pleasures that cloy,And writhings to be free;Faintings, cryings to the sky,"My God, O let me die,"When it should sweetest be.Ah me!