Inger Dam-Jensen- Handel : Se pietà de me non senti

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This Da Capo aria (A-B-A format) expresses the anguish of a woman who thinks (in the tradition of good opera) that she has lost her lover. The aria comes in the second act of the opera, when Cleopatra (to whom the aria is ascribed) realises, after trying to seduce Caesar disguised as her own maid 'Lydia', that she truly loves him.

The libretto, roughly translated, is as follows:

If you don't feel pity for me,
Oh, Heaven, I will die

You need to give peace to my torment,
Or this soul will cry

As Tolomeo's men approach to assassinate Caesar, Cleopatra reveals her true identity, and begs him to flee. He refuses, instead opting to fight. Cleopatra later hears that her love has died trying to escape. This turns out to be false of course, but the sorrow in the aria shows her affection, and her loss, to be real.
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(http://www.jamesedwardhughes.com/music-essays/category/se-pieta-di-me-non-senti3420241c58)