" [A translation into English of a poem Elisabeth wrote two weeks after her wedding]
Oh, had I but never left the path
That would have led me to freedom.
Oh, that on the broad avenues
Of vanity I had never strayed!
I have awakened in a dungeon,
With chains on my hands.
And my longing ever stronger-
And freedom! You, turned from me!
I have awakened from a rapture,
Which held my spirit captive,
And vainly do I curse this exchange,
In which I gambled away you -freedom!- away.
The Reluctant Empress, Chapter 2 "
― Brigitte Hamann , The Reluctant Empress
![Brigitte Hamann quote : [A translation into English of a poem Elisabeth wrote two weeks after her wedding]<br /><br />Oh, had I but never left the path<br />That would have led me to freedom.<br />Oh, that on the broad avenues<br />Of vanity I had never strayed!<br /><br />I have awakened in a dungeon,<br />With chains on my hands.<br />And my longing ever stronger-<br />And freedom! You, turned from me!<br /><br />I have awakened from a rapture,<br />Which held my spirit captive,<br />And vainly do I curse this exchange,<br />In which I gambled away you -freedom!- away.<br /><br /> <i>The Reluctant Empress</i>, Chapter 2](/image/1094604.jpg)