English
Nothing Comes of You
From you I get nothing but heartache and blood of the liver.
What can I do, my love, when nothing else comes of this?
No one can tie a sash around your waist, because
there is no waist there at all, nothing but the edge of the sash.
Just remembering your lips is sweet to my mouth,
though the taste of sugar never comes from the word 'sugar'.
You said: look at the moon and the sun instead,
if looking at my face gives you no pleasure.
Though both of them are bodies of the utmost brightness,
what I want from you is something moon and sun can never give.
I asked your curls for my heart, and they only coiled tighter.
Say it, don't be ashamed: if it isn't here, then say it isn't here.
However much I speak with you, I get only a headache;
none of what I long for, my dear, ever comes to pass.
I offered you: one kiss from those ruby lips, and my life paid in full.
Why this delay? Is it that nothing is to be had?
I have given up all hope of you, for no wish of mine
comes true without gold from you, and gold there is none.