To the Right Honorable Sir Duvall,
In accordance with our agreement, I deliver to you a poem extrolling the beauty of your beloved - the noble Vivienne de Tabris. I hereby waive all rights to the authorship of said poem in settlement for the initially agreed amount that shall be deposited in my account at the Cianfanelli Bank.
O, call not me to justify the wrong
That thy unkindness lays upon my heart,
Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue
Use power with power, and slay me not by art.
Tell me thou lov'st elsewhere, but in my sight,
Dear heart, forbear to glance thine eye aside.
What need'st thou wound with cunning when thy might
Is more than my o'erpressed defense can bide?
Let me excuse thee: ah, my love well knows
Her pretty looks have been mine enemies,
And therefore from my face she turns my foes,
That they elsewhere might dart their injuries -
Yet do not so, but since I am near slain,
Kill me outright with looks and rid my pain.
With expressions of deep respect and commending myself to you for the future,
John of Blackforest
