May I call you my love, my lovely?
What a shameful and presumptuous question!
I call you names without asking
and ask your permission afterwards
when the importuning already has been made.
What a shameful and unabashed conduct!
It just fell on my mind in this candlelight
in a purely romantic and natural mood
to call you that name which forever is yours in my mind
and which sometimes demands some expression.
So forgive me my bold importuning,
but let me just whisper that name in your ear again
with full guarantee that you only may hear it,
of names most misused but also most honest,
my love.