Lady, The Fates Command
Lady, the fates command, and I must go,---
Leaving the pleasant land so dear to me:
Here my heart suffered many a heavy woe:
But what is left to love, thus leaving thee?
Alas! that cruel land beyond the see!
Why thus dividing many a faithful heart,
Never again from pain and sorrow free,
Never again to meet, when thus they part?
I see not, when thy presence bright I leave,
How wealth, or joy, or peace can be my lot:
Ne'er yet my spirit found such cause to grieve
As now in leaving thee; and if thy thought
Of me in absence should be sorrow-fraught,
Oft will my heart repentant turn to thee,
Dwelling, in fruitless wishes, on this spot,
And all the gracious words here said to me.
O gracious God! to thee I bend my knee,
For thy sake yielding all I love and prize;
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poem by Thibaut de Champagne
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Mercy, my lady! One thing I ask you,
‘Mercy, my lady! One thing I ask you,
As God may bless you, answer me fairly:
When you are dead, and I – for it’s true
After you there can be no life for me –
What of Love, without our company?
For there’s such wisdom and worth in you
And I love so: after us, He’ll not be.’
‘Before God, Thibaut, I judge it true
No one’s death ever killed Love. I see
You mean perhaps to mock me too,
Since you don’t seem wasted much to me.
When we’re dead (Long may our lives be!)
I’m sure Love will suffer a pang or two,
But Love’s worth holds for eternity.’
‘Lady, you mustn’t merely imagine
But know in your heart I love you deeply.
That is why I have put on flesh again,
This joy makes me love myself more dearly:
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poem by Thibaut de Champagne
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Pastourelle
The other day I went wandering
Without any companion
On my palfrey, thinking
To make a song,
When I heard—I don't know how—
Near a bush
The voice of the most beautiful child
That any man has ever seen;
And she was not a child,
For she was fifteen and a half years old.
I have never seen anyone
With such a noble face.
Laughing, I rode towards her
And made this speech:
'Beautiful one, tell me,
By God, what your name is.'
But she jumped up
With her crook:
'If you come any nearer,
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poem by Thibaut de Champagne
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Love I have served, for such length of time
Love I have served, for such length of time
If I forsake Him no man should blame me,
Now I go, and commend him to God in rhyme,
Man shouldn’t give his whole life to folly.
And he’s a fool who can’t keep from loving,
And can’t see in it all these torments of mine.
I’d be thought a child if I furthered the crime,
There’s a season for everything in being.
I’ve never been like those other men
Who having loved, seek to decry him,
And speak of him with boorish intent:
A man shouldn’t sell his loyalty towards him
Nor slander his Lord nor turn against him:
Let whoever renounces avoid dissent.
For myself, my wishes are all well meant.
May lovers have joy, now I’m free again.
Love has been good to me until now,
For he made me love with nobility
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poem by Thibaut de Champagne
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I can’t prevent myself from singing
I can’t prevent myself from singing,
And yet I’m full of grief and sadness,
Though joy is always a lovely thing,
And no one takes pleasure in distress.
I don’t sing as one loved will sing
But as one troubled, downcast, weeping,
Since I’ve no more hope of happiness,
Ever deceived by what words are weaving.
I will tell you one thing without lying:
Love greatly depends on fate and chance,
If I could sever from her, cease loving,
It would be better than ruling France.
Now I’ve spoken like a mad thing,
Her beauties I’d rather die recalling
Her great wisdom and sweet acquaintance,
Than see the whole wide world bowing.
I’ll never be happy, I’m sure that’s true,
Since Love hates, and my lady forgets me,
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poem by Thibaut de Champagne
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