Xi

He proceeds on his way:

I bear a burden--look not therein! Naught will you find save sorrow and sin; Sorrow and sin that wend with me Wherever I go. And misery, A gaunt companion, my wretched bride, Goes ever with me, side by side.

Sick of myself and all the earth, I ask my soul now: Is life worth The little pleasure that we gain For all our sorrow and our pain? The love, to which we gave our best, That turns a mockery and a jest?