The battle is fought, the act: o'er.
Lone I stand on a distant shore.
My mind- it reels- I cannot stay?
I cannot wish this pain away?
My lip quivers and my balance falters.
All time and space cannot be altered.
My hands, how they shake! My knees, how they quake!
The woman I love, I must forsake!
Then down I fall, indeed, my breath is laboured
The body and face that I had favoured…
It begins to shift and regenerate,
I simply cannot accept this sad fate.
Yet by some mad miracle, I look to the sea
And see her standing there in front of me-
The sweetest Rose of my whole life.
The gracious beauty whom I call my wife.
She steps toward me, but something is amiss-
She kneels beside me to plant one chaste kiss,
Then fades, disappears, and I now realise,
'Tis merely a dream that I fantasised.
I am back on my ship, and all I know
I lived well, yes, but I don't want to go.