I live behind forbidding walls
Made of adamantine words.
I could walk out when my heart calls,
But, ah! Here flight is just for birds.

It was my luck to find my love
Just after I had been engaged.
I would for love the whole Earth move,
Nor care what god might be enraged.

Cruel irony! That word I gave,
My lover looked to me to keep;
For love performs as we behave,
Nor do respect and trust come cheap.

And so I did what all thought right,
Though it was wrong, and honor kept.
I stayed an angel in his sight,
And ever since in silence wept.

Our love remains, though we're apart,
Unsullied as a distant star,
While I must walk within my heart,
Unquiet as the spirits are.