Armida's Garden

I have been there before thee, O my love!
Each winding way I know and all the flowers
The shadowy cypress trees, the twilight grove,
Where rest, in fragrant sleep, the enchanted hours.

I have been there before thee. At the end
There stands a gate through which thou too must pass.
When thou shalt reach it, God in mercy send
Thou say no bitterer word, love, than "Alas!"