WHY is that
seeing her across the room
stops my heart from beating?
gives me such a burning to express?
drowns me in the depths of melancholy?

WHAT gives her
the scepter of authority
over the kingdom of my heart?
the right to rule without knowing it?
dazing power in a single glance?

WHERE can I run to escape her hold,
if I were able to choose to do so,
and free myself of this tyranny?
be removed enough for clear thought?
be released from the shackles of desire?

WHO might it be
that could possibly have the power
to break the spell I have come under?
are not others of her sex eclipsed by her very presence?
and does not the counsel of mine own come to naught when she appears?

WHEN will it be that my sentence,
begun such a short time ago - though it seems years,
comes to its unknown conclusion?
when will my mind's haze clear?
my spirit rise again as the phoenix to soar?