Armida's garden

I have been there before thee, O my love!

Each winding way I know and all the flowers,

The shadowy cypress trees, the twilight grove,

Where rest, in fragrant sleep, the enchanted hours.

I have been there before thee. At the end

There stands a gate through which thou too must pass.

When thou shalt reach it, God in mercy send

Thou say no bitterer word, love, than "Alas!"