16: Fidelity
True love endures;
It outlives many an hour.
No doubts frighten it;
Ever unbowed is its courage.
Tempest and death menace it
In dense hordes, inviting
Inconstancy. But loyal blood
Sets love against these dangers.
And, like a mist, is dissolved
That which imprisons the senses,
And to the serene gaze of spring
The wide world is revealed.
Achieved
Mastered
By love is happiness.
Vanished
Are the hours:
But they fly back.
And blessed joy
Stills
Fulfils
The drunken delight-throbbing breast.
May it be set apart
From sorrow
Forever.
And never
Vanish this sweet, blessed, heavenly bliss!
The End