Edmund Clarence Stedman (Эдмунд Кларенс Стедман)
Provençal Lovers
AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE Within the garden of Beaucaire He met her by a secret stair,— The night was centuries ago. Said Aucassin, "My love, my pet, These old confessors vex me so! They threaten all the pains of hell Unless I give you up, ma belle;"— Said Aucassin to Nicolette. "Now, who should there in Heaven be To fill your place, ma très-douce mie? To reach that spot I little care! There all the droning priests are met; All the old cripples, too, are there That unto shrines and altars cling To filch the Peter-pence we bring;"— Said Aucassin to Nicolette. "There are the barefoot monks and friars With gowns well tattered by the briars, The saints who lift their eyes and whine: I like them not—a starveling set! Who'd care with folk like these to dine? The other road 't were just as well That you and I should take, ma belle!"— Said Aucassin to Nicolette. "To purgatory I would go With pleasant comrades whom we know, Fair scholars, minstrels, lusty knights Whose deeds the land will not forget, The captains of a hundred fights, The men of valor and degree: We'll join that gallant company,"— Said Aucassin to Nicolette. "There, too, are jousts and joyance rare, And beauteous ladies debonair, The pretty dames, the merry brides, Who with their wedded lords coquette And have a friend or two besides,— And all in gold and trappings gay, With furs, and crests in vair and gray;"— Said Aucassin to Nicolette. "Sweet players on the cithern strings, And they who roam the world like kings, Are gathered there, so blithe and free! Pardie! I'd join them now, my pet, If you went also, ma douce mie! The joys of heaven I'd forego To have you with me there below,"— Said Aucassin to Nicolette.
1878
Edmund Clarence Stedman’s other poems:
892
