Labour Lost

If I thought the secret would be kept by you,
I'd let you see my dear lady's face.
If a man should take and break my heart in two,
Right well he might see her in that place.
Here she came thro' mine eyelids slipping; portal there was none.
Oh, that such a gracious welcome from her love I might find, as she hath done!

If toward a deaf forest many a shout be sent,
Some answer, sure, at the last you'll hear!
Oft and oft I sue her now with fresh lament
Of all my grief, would she but give ear.
Others too tell her my distresses often in their song.
Ah, but surely she's been sleeping all this while, or kept silent all too long!

Parrot, aye or starling, would have learned to say
The word of "love" long ere this right well.
I have shown her service now for many a day:
Can she make out yet the tale I tell?
Nay, not she, save on her God be willing a miracle to show!
I might easier fell a tree without an axe, and by praying lay it low!