Love

Poem : 1251

Of womanly reserve love's axe breaks through the door,
Barred by the bolt of shame before.

Explanation :
The axe of lust can break the door of chastity which is bolted with the bolt of modesty.

Poem : 1252

What men call love is the one thing of merciless power;
It gives my soul no rest, e'en in the midnight hour.

Explanation :
Even at midnight is my mind worried by lust, and this one thing, alas! is without mercy.

Poem : 1253

I would my love conceal, but like a sneeze
It shows itself, and gives no warning sign.

Explanation :
I would conceal my lust, but alas, it yields not to my will but breaks out like a sneeze.

Poem : 1254

In womanly reserve I deemed myself beyond assail;
But love will come abroad, and casts away the veil.

Explanation :
I say I would be firm, but alas, my malady breaks out from its concealment and appears in public.

Poem : 1255

The dignity that seeks not him who acts as foe,
Is the one thing that loving heart can never know.

Explanation :
The dignity that would not go after an absent lover is not known to those who are sticken by love.

Poem : 1256

My grief how full of grace, I pray you see!
It seeks to follow him that hateth me.

Explanation :
The sorrow I have endured by desiring to go after my absent lover, in what way is it excellent?

Poem : 1257

No sense of shame my gladdened mind shall prove,
When he returns my longing heart to bless with love.

Explanation :
I know nothing like shame when my beloved does from love (just) what is desired (by me).

Poem : 1258

The words of that deceiver, versed in every wily art,
Are instruments that break through every guard of woman's heart!

Explanation :
Are not the enticing words of my trick-abounding roguish lover the weapon that breaks away my feminine firmness?

Poem : 1259

'I 'll shun his greeting'; saying thus with pride away I went;
I held him in my arms, for straight I felt my heart relent.

Explanation :
I said I would feign dislike and so went (away); (but) I embraced him the moment I say my mind began to unite with him!

Poem : 1260

'We 'll stand aloof and then embrace'; is this for them to say,
Whose hearts are as the fat that in the blaze dissolves away?

Explanation :
Is it possible for those whose hearts melt like fat in the fire to say they can feign a strong dislike and remain so?