| RONDEAU | RONDEL |
| Christine de Pisan | tr. Stan Solomons |
Rians vairs yeulx qui mon cuer avez pris Par vos regars pleins de las amoureux A vous me rens, si me tiens eureux D’estre par vous si doulcement surpris On ne pourroit sommer le très grant pris De vos grans biens qui tant sont savoureux Rians vairs yeulx qui mon cuer avez pris Tant estes doulx, plaisant et bien apris Qu’au monde na homme si douleureux Que, s’un regart en avoit doulcereux Que tantost n’eust pas vous confort repris, Rians vairs yeulx qui mon cuer avez pris. | My heart is slave to grey blue laughing eyes To your regard brimming with loving sadness I give myself to you, so full of happiness Seeing you render me such sweet surprise One could not count the joy and the great prize Of virtues so perfumed and sensuous My heart is slave to grey blue laughing eyes So soft and pleasant, such a lovely prize That no man in the world however sad Target of such a gentle, tender gaze Would straightway change his humour to the glad My heart is slave to grey blue laughing eyes. |
Note: A Rondeau is a form of French poetry with 15 lines written on two rhymes,
This shortened poem is more strictly termed a ‘Rondel’. It was most commonly set to music between the late 13th and the 15th centuries.
Trans. Copyright© Stan Solomons 2010
