CXVIII
The Wasting of the Eyes Through Wistful Longing
She
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Why do my Eyes complain to me today? This inconsolable grief hath come even upon me only through their showing to me my beloved.
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How is it that the Eyes that looked rashly on the beloved that day grieve today, instead of bearing patiently the consequences of their own folly?
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They looked on him straightway of their own free will that day, and today they weep of themselves: how they make themselves ridiculous!
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After bequeathing to me the incurable grief that consumeth me, my Eyes have now dried up, having exhausted their store of tears.
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My Eyes which have brought on me this anguish vaster than the ocean, now pine away with grief and cannot even lay themselves to sleep.
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Oh, it is a sweet revenge to me that the Eyes that caused me this sorrow are victims themselves to the selfsame anguish!
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Beshrew the eyes that hung upon his form on that day with a passionate, greedy, all-absorbing love! May they dry up to their very roots with pining and repining!
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Verily there be those who love without being loved! For here are my eyes which know no repose for not seeing him.
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My Eyes sleep not when he is away, neither sleep they when he is returned: either way it is their lot to suffer unceasing pain.
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When people’s eyes themselves are telltale drums, even as my own, it is not hard for strangers to read the secret they seek to conceal.