Come hither dear child,
and bequeath upon me
the declaration of your love.
A love which you hath in days
gone by professed before my
scandalous fellows, those
who would conspire even now
to make me dead and seal my fate.
Profess to love me yet again,
lest my masked enemies shall ****
me in the quiet of the night!

Profess to love me once more,
you my daughter whom I dearly
love, above all else this world may
give unto me. On this my deathbed,
profess to love me, before it shall fall
on the ears of the dead and have no
great effect on this my aged heart.
Prithee, let the last words I shall hear be;
'I love you!'