Instructions

In a poetic epistle

a desperate wretch makes this appeal:

Dear cousin, Cousin Christel,

Why do you never write?

Don't you realize that hearts

overcome by love

are no laughing matter

particularly when they belong to a poet?

For I am one of those

whose head is constantly full.

If I am only half a poet

the other half is mad.

Amor has committed you to me,

you know his pay rate in advance

and the mouth that informs you

will not go away empty-handed either.

If you happen to be passing just when

Your own treasure is looking out

Get her to repeat every word

that my little treasure confided to her.

Then you can write these words from the girl

filling half a dozen sheets of paper

in addition to an essay explaining

how I ought to behave, how I ought to behave.