Tears
The motif of tears dominates the poem “Long-Felt Desires”. The tears are attributed to the speaker’s inability to achieve the love he or she had dreamed of. So, the tears are due to distress. The tears are intense, hence, they are comparable to rivers that flow down the speaker’s face. Additionally, the poem “While Yet These Tears” has the motif of tears and its interpretation is similar to that in “Long-Felt Desires” as the tears are heart-rending.
Lonely Trails
The motif of ‘lonely trails’ appears in the poem: “I Flee The City, Temples and Each Place”.The motif connotes the reclusive life that the speaker has plunged into after failing to find solace in “ the city, Temples and each Place”, which are places that evoke the lover’s memories. The speaker is disinterested with life;thus, choses the lonely trail to help in putting the lover out of his or her mind. The ‘lonely trails’ depict the speaker as a lonesome individual who has self-exiled in a way that hinders contact with people and places.
Scorpion
Louise Labe includes the symbol of scorpion in the poem “I” to represent agony that comes with unrequited love. The pain feasts on the speaker’s heart in the same way that a scorpion would feast on its prey. The speaker intends to beg the scorpion not to kill her as the pain is deadly. Literally, the speaker is begging the lover to reciprocate love so that it can guard her from the scorpion-like torture.
