Tell me the meaning of this dance:
First I retreat, then you advance,
You smile and offer me your hand
As though you think I’ll understand…

This little game may make you smile,
It may amuse you for a while,
But when the door swings open wide,
Then what is on the other side?

If I should see you in my dreams,
Then nothing there is what it seems,
And whether you are false or true
In dreams I need not turn from you:

But in this game of life we play
The stakes grow higher every day,
And I know all too well the cost:
If you should win, then I am lost.

This challenge that we can’t refuse
I fear that I am going to lose:
You gain amusement from our strife –
I pay my wager with my life:

Whether I should be bound or die,
It makes no difference, by and by –
In each event you will have won
And what I am will soon be gone.

I wish I did not want you so:
I wish so much you did not know
That I must freeze and yet I burn,
I should be free and yet I yearn:

You watch me with your silver eyes,
And smile at me in faint surprise
That I should think I stood a chance,
That I could hope to leave this dance…