Once upon our love, do you remember?
How your beauty startled from seraphic calm,
When I caught sight of years on your soft wrinkled palm,
Which enfolded the betrayal of the careless time,
And we were ashamed to show our suffused temper,
While our eyes patiently contended with time's innocent harm.

Do you still ponder about my valor and rosy promises?
Of baskets of flowers of jealous daffodils and irises,
Of a palace of our iris of love's gracious glances,
Of paths of iridescent delight to our passion's wilderness,
Of a world of stars and sun beams for your dresses,
And stories for our grandsons adorned with before sleep kisses.

Do you remember, ah, our mingled tears?
Our failure to laugh, to count bleak years,
Our persistent endeavors to survive hopefully in vain:
Love is not ours, I wish we were spared of this searing pain,
Might what time have disclosed be folded again,
Might what we have lived be faded in wane.