April

From the french of the Vidame de Chartres. 12--?     When the fields catch flower     And the underwood is green,     And from bower unto bower     The songs of the birds begin,     I sing with sighing between.     When I laugh and sing,     I am heavy at heart for my sin;     I am sad in the spring     For my love that I shall not win,     For a foolish thing.     This profit I have of my woe,     That I know, as I sing,     I know he will needs have it so     Who is master and king,     Who is lord of the spirit of spring.     I will serve her and will not spare     Till her pity awake     Who is good, who is pure, who is fair,     Even her for whose sake     Love hath taen me and slain unaware.     O my lord, O Love,     I have laid my life at thy feet;     Have thy will thereof,     Do as it please thee with it,     For what shall please thee is sweet.     I am come unto thee     To do thee service, O Love;     Yet cannot I see     Thou wilt take any pity thereof,     Any mercy on me.     But the grace I have long time sought     Comes never in sight,     If in her it abideth not,     Through thy mercy and might,     Whose heart is the worlds delight.     Thou hast sworn without fail I shall die,     For my heart is set     On what hurts me, I wot not why,     But cannot forget     What I love, what I sing for and sigh.     She is worthy of praise,     For this grief of her giving is worth     All the joy of my days     That lie between deaths day and birth,     All the lordship of things upon earth.     Nay, what have I said?     I would not be glad if I could;     My dream and my dread     Are of her, and for her sake I would     That my life were fled.     Lo, sweet, if I durst not pray to you,     Then were I dead;     If I sang not a little to say to you,     (Could it be said)     O my love, how my heart would be fed;     Ah sweet who hast hold of my heart,     For thy loves sake I live,     Do but tell me, ere either depart,     What a lover may give     For a woman so fair as thou art.     The lovers that disbelieve,     False rumours shall grieve     And evil-speaking shall part.