EXCERPTED FROM LAUSTIC BY MARIE DE FRANCE

 

marie-de-france

No-one detected their subterfuge,
No-one could tell her not to stare
Out her own window–and he’d be there.
Long had they loved each other dear
When there came the summer of one year.
Now woods and meadows are green again,
Orchards in blossom are seen again,
The birdie all his sweet notes showers
In joyous play on the sweet flowers.
A man or woman who loves someone–
Where else would their sweet thoughts run?
To tell the truth about this knight:
That’s where his thoughts run, all right;
And the lady, at her window, higher,
Speaks, and looks, only desire.
Nights, when the moon her pale light shed,
When her husband had gone to bed,
The lady rose up from his side,
Wrapped herself in a mantle wide,
Went to stand at the window, true
To her friend waiting there, she knew;
For both their lives were just the same,
They waked all night till morning came.
The rapture of looking made them so glad
(That rapture the only one they had)