Upon the royal bed they rest:
My dearest wife, my infant son.
His head lays on her tender breast.
But I must leave. This must be done.
Locked in this place for countless days
From bond to bond I freely went.
No more. Now we must part our ways
For I must leave. Bonds must be rent.
In these royal palace halls
Pleasures of the flesh I’ve sought.
But outside those guarded walls
Sorrow reigns their lives distraught.
People suffer. Hear them cry?
What prince I, if I don’t care?
They grow old and sick. They die.
Princes too death does not spare.
My princess wife, now I must leave.
You have my crown. You’ll have my throne.
Dearest wife, you must not grieve:
In this world we’re all alone.
Now I must leave. I must depart.
Nor kingdom, palace. Blood nor kin.
But to the world I give my heart
My hermitage I must begin.
And so I make it this life’s end
That path to peace to seek, to find.
And so my wife, my dearest friend:
You and my son I leave behind.
2013
