A hurt that doth in the beginning please, When on an object which doth seem as fair As the fair heavens above, the sight doth feast-- And yet the more it looks with yearning gaze, The more the heart doth suffer everywhere, The heart that is with anguish sore distressed-- Dumb speaker; chatterer with dumbness oppressed; A wise man babbling folly; Ruin that slayeth wholly; The life which joyous harmony doth fill; Shadow of good that is transformed to ill; A flight that raiseth us to Heaven on high, Only that grief may still Live after we have fallen, and pleasure die; A thief unseen that doth destroy us quite, And robs us of our wealth with ruthless hand, Carrying our souls away at every hour; A speed that overtakes the quickest flight; A riddle none there is to understand; A life that always is in peril sore; A chosen, and, withal, a chance-born war; A truce that is but brief; Beloved, luckless grief; Promise that never doth to fruitage come; Illness that makes within the soul its home; Coward that upon evil rusheth bold; Debtor that doth the sum He owes, which is our due, ever withhold; A labyrinth wherein is nestling found A fierce wild beast that doth itself sustain On the surrendered hearts of all mankind; A bond wherewith the lives of all are bound; A lord that from his steward seeks to gain Account of deed and word, and of his mind; Greed, unto countless varied aims inclined; A worm that builds a house, Wretched or beauteous, Where for a little while it dwells and dies; A sigh that never knows for what it sighs; A cloud that darkens all our faculties; A knife that wounds us--this Is Love, him follow, if ye think it wise.'