Oh love, what do you want of me? When I...

Oh love, what do you want of me? When I

think I've forgotten him, he haunts my mind.

What do you want of me? But you'll reply:

"Not I, my shadow, following behind.

Oh jealousy, you will not be denied.

Like advocates, you lead, but lead astray.

Were she to heed the counsels you provide,

a woman's honour would not last a day.

I love a man, my fearful heart's afloat

in dangerous seas; but how can I forget

that I'm an ocean, he a humble boat?

How can it be the sea that's overset?

Yet now Love's bow's so stretched, I fear it might

be split apart, if honour pulls too tight.

Lope de Vega. The Dog in the Manger. Trans. Victor Dixon. Carleton Renaissance Plays in Translation. Ottawa, Dovehouse Editions, 1990. pp. 83.