CXIII
The Glorification of Love
He
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Even as honey and milk mingled together is the dew on the lips of this fair one with the subdued speech.
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How great is the love between the body and the soul? Even so great is my love for this artless one.
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O thou Image in the pupil of mine eye! Leave and give room to the fair one that I love, for there is no other abode that is worthy of her.
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It is as life when she is near: but it is as very death when she leaveth my side.
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The virtues of this maiden of the fair and battling eyes I certainly can remember, provided first I can forget them: but how to forget them I know not!
She
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He will not go from my eyes, neither will he be hurt when I wink: so subtle is the form of my beloved.47
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My beloved dwelleth ever within my eyes: so I do not paint them even lest I lose sight of him even for an instant.48
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My beloved is ever in my heart: so I eat not hot food lest it burn him there.
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I wink not for fear that I should lose sight of him even for that instant: and for this the village folk charge him with cruelty.49
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He dwelleth lovingly within my bosom and is never away from thence: and yet the village folk declare that he hath abandoned me, and call him cruel.