Classic Poem

WHEREIN HE RECOUNTS HIS STATE WHEN LAURA IS
PRESENT AND WHEN SHE LEAVES HIM

Tears, bitter tears fall in a bitter rain,
And my heart trembles with a storm of sighs
When on your beauty bend my burning eyes,
For whose sole sake the world seems flat and vain.
But ah, when I can see that smile again,
That chaste, sweet, delicate smile, then passion dies
Withered in its own flaming agonies:
Gazing upon you, passion is lost and pain.
But all too soon my very soul is rocked
When you depart and with your passing dear
Pluck from my perilous heaven my stars, O Sweet!
Then at the last, by Love's own keys unlocked,
My soul from out my body leaping clear
On wings of meditation finds your feet.