Prohemium.

But al to litel, weylaway the whyle,
Lasteth swich Ioye, y-thonked be Fortune!
That semeth trewest, whan she wol bygyle,
And can to foles so hir song entune,
That she hem hent and blent, traytour comune;  
And whan a wight is from hir wheel y-throwe,
Than laugheth she, and maketh him the mowe.

From Troilus she gan hir brighte face
Awey to wrythe, and took of him non hede,
But caste him clene out of his lady grace,  
And on hir wheel she sette up Diomede;
For which right now myn herte ginneth blede,
And now my penne, allas! With which I wryte,
Quaketh for drede of that I moot endyte.

For how Criseyde Troilus forsook,  
Or at the leste, how that she was unkinde,
Mot hennes-forth ben matere of my book,
As wryten folk through which it is in minde.
Allas! That they sholde ever cause finde
To speke hir harm; and if they on hir lye,  
Y-wis, hem-self sholde han the vilanye.

O ye Herines, Nightes doughtren three,
That endelees compleynen ever in pyne,
Megera, Alete, and eek Thesiphone;
Thou cruel Mars eek, fader to Quiryne,  
This ilke ferthe book me helpeth fyne,
So that the los of lyf and love y-fere
Of Troilus be fully shewed here.

Explicit prohemium.

Incipit Quartus Liber.

Ligginge in ost, as I have seyd er this,
The Grekes stronge, aboute Troye toun,  
Bifel that, whan that Phebus shyning is
Up-on the brest of Hercules Lyoun,
That Ector, with ful many a bold baroun,
Caste on a day with Grekes for to fighte,
As he was wont to greve hem what he mighte.  

Not I how longe or short it was bitwene
This purpos and that day they fighte mente;
But on a day wel armed, bright and shene,
Ector, and many a worthy wight out wente,
With spere in hond and bigge bowes bente;  
And in the herd, with-oute lenger lette,
Hir fomen in the feld anoon hem mette.

The longe day, with speres sharpe y-grounde,
With arwes, dartes, swerdes, maces felle,
They fighte and bringen hors and man to grounde,  
And with hir axes out the braynes quelle.
But in the laste shour, sooth for to telle,
The folk of Troye hem-selven so misledden,
That with the worse at night homward they fledden.

At whiche day was taken Antenor,  
Maugre Polydamas or Monesteo,
Santippe, Sarpedon, Polynestor,
Polyte, or eek the Troian daun Ripheo,
And othere lasse folk, as Phebuseo.
So that, for harm, that day the folk of Troye  
Dredden to lese a greet part of hir Ioye.

Of Pryamus was yeve, at Greek requeste,
A tyme of trewe, and tho they gonnen trete,
Hir prisoneres to chaungen, moste and leste,
And for the surplus yeven sommes grete.  
This thing anoon was couth in every strete,
Bothe in thassege, in toune, and every-where,
And with the firste it cam to Calkas ere.

Whan Calkas knew this tretis sholde holde,
In consistorie, among the Grekes, sone  
He gan in thringe forth, with lordes olde,
And sette him there-as he was wont to done;
And with a chaunged face hem bad a bone,
For love of god, to don that reverence,
To stinte noyse, and yeve him audience.  

Thanne seyde he thus, 'Lo! Lordes myne, I was
Troian, as it is knowen out of drede;
And, if that yow remembre, I am Calkas,
That alderfirst yaf comfort to your nede,
And tolde wel how that ye sholden spede.  
For dredelees, thorugh yow, shal, in a stounde,
Ben Troye y-brend, and beten doun to grounde.

'And in what forme, or in what maner wyse
This town to shende, and al your lust to acheve,
Ye han er this wel herd it me devyse;  
This knowe ye, my lordes, as I leve.
And for the Grekes weren me so leve,
I com my-self in my propre persone,
To teche in this how yow was best to done;

'Havinge un-to my tresour ne my rente  
Right no resport, to respect of your ese.
Thus al my good I loste and to yow wente,
Wening in this you, lordes, for to plese.
But al that los ne doth me no disese.
I vouche-sauf, as wisly have I Ioye,  
For you to lese al that I have in Troye,

'Save of a doughter, that I lafte, allas!
Slepinge at hoom, whanne out of Troye I sterte.
O sterne, O cruel fader that I was!
How mighte I have in that so hard an herte?  
Allas! I ne hadde y-brought hir in hir sherte!
For sorwe of which I wol not live to morwe,
But-if ye lordes rewe up-on my sorwe.

'For, by that cause I say no tyme er now
Hir to delivere, I holden have my pees;  
But now or never, if that it lyke yow,
I may hir have right sone, doutelees.
O help and grace! Amonges al this prees,
Rewe on this olde caitif in destresse,
Sin I through yow have al this hevinesse!  

'Ye have now caught and fetered in prisoun
Troians y-nowe; and if your willes be,
My child with oon may have redempcioun.
Now for the love of god and of bountee,
Oon of so fele, allas! So yeve him me.  
What nede were it this preyere for to werne,
Sin ye shul bothe han folk and toun as yerne?

'On peril of my lyf, I shal nat lye,
Appollo hath me told it feithfully;
I have eek founde it be astronomye,  
By sort, and by augurie eek trewely,
And dar wel seye, the tyme is faste by,
That fyr and flaumbe on al the toun shal sprede;
And thus shal Troye turne to asshen dede.

'For certeyn, Phebus and Neptunus bothe,  
That makeden the walles of the toun,
Ben with the folk of Troye alwey so wrothe,
That thei wol bringe it to confusioun,
Right in despyt of king Lameadoun.
By-cause he nolde payen hem hir hyre,  
The toun of Troye shal ben set on-fyre.'

Telling his tale alwey, this olde greye,
Humble in speche, and in his lokinge eke,
The salte teres from his eyen tweye
Ful faste ronnen doun by eyther cheke.  
So longe he gan of socour hem by-seke
That, for to hele him of his sorwes sore,
They yave him Antenor, with-oute more.

But who was glad y-nough but Calkas tho?
And of this thing ful sone his nedes leyde  
On hem that sholden for the tretis go,
And hem for Antenor ful ofte preyde
To bringen hoom king Toas and Criseyde;
And whan Pryam his save-garde sente,
Thembassadours to Troye streyght they wente.  

The cause y-told of hir cominge, the olde
Pryam the king ful sone in general
Let here-upon his parlement to holde,
Of which the effect rehersen yow I shal.
Thembassadours ben answered for fynal,  
Theschaunge of prisoners and al this nede
Hem lyketh wel, and forth in they procede.

This Troilus was present in the place,
Whan axed was for Antenor Criseyde,
For which ful sone chaungen gan his face,  
As he that with tho wordes wel neigh deyde.
But nathelees, he no word to it seyde,
Lest men sholde his affeccioun espye;
With mannes herte he gan his sorwes drye.

And ful of anguissh and of grisly drede  
Abood what lordes wolde un-to it seye;
And if they wolde graunte, as god forbede,
Theschaunge of hir, than thoughte he thinges tweye,
First, how to save hir honour, and what weye
He mighte best theschaunge of hir withstonde;  
Ful faste he caste how al this mighte stonde.

Love him made al prest to doon hir byde,
And rather dye than she sholde go;
But resoun seyde him, on that other syde,
'With-oute assent of hir ne do not so,  
Lest for thy werk she wolde be thy fo,
And seyn, that thorugh thy medling is y-blowe
Your bother love, there it was erst unknowe.'

For which he gan deliberen, for the beste,
That though the lordes wolde that she wente,  
He wolde lat hem graunte what hem leste,
And telle his lady first what that they mente.
And whan that she had seyd him hir entente,
Ther-after wolde he werken also blyve,
Though al the world ayein it wolde stryve.  

Ector, which that wel the Grekes herde,
For Antenor how they wolde han Criseyde,
Gan it withstonde, and sobrely answerde: --
'Sires, she nis no prisoner,' he seyde;
'I noot on yow who that this charge leyde,  
But, on my part, ye may eft-sone hem telle,
We usen here no wommen for to selle.'

The noyse of peple up-stirte thanne at ones,
As breme as blase of straw y-set on fyre;
For infortune it wolde, for the nones,  
They sholden hir confusioun desyre.
'Ector,' quod they, 'what goost may yow enspyre
This womman thus to shilde and doon us lese
Daun Antenor? -- a wrong wey now ye chese --

'That is so wys, and eek so bold baroun,  
And we han nede to folk, as men may see;
He is eek oon, the grettest of this toun;
O Ector, lat tho fantasyes be!
O king Priam,' quod they, 'thus seggen we,
That al our voys is to for-gon Criseyde;'  
And to deliveren Antenor they preyde.

O Iuvenal, lord! Trewe is thy sentence,
That litel witen folk what is to yerne
That they ne finde in hir desyr offence;
For cloud of errour let hem not descerne  
What best is; and lo, here ensample as yerne.
This folk desiren now deliveraunce
Of Antenor, that broughte hem to mischaunce!

For he was after traytour to the toun
Of Troye; allas! They quitte him out to rathe;  
O nyce world, lo, thy discrecioun!
Criseyde, which that never dide hem skathe,
Shal now no lenger in hir blisse bathe;
But Antenor, he shal com hoom to toune,
And she shal out; thus seyden here and howne.  

For which delibered was by parlement
For Antenor to yelden out Criseyde,
And it pronounced by the president,
Al-theigh that Ector 'nay' ful ofte preyde.
And fynaly, what wight that it with-seyde,  
It was for nought, it moste been, and sholde;
For substaunce of the parlement it wolde.

Departed out of parlement echone,
This Troilus, with-oute wordes mo,
Un-to his chaumbre spedde him faste allone,  
But-if it were a man of his or two,
The whiche he bad out faste for to go,
By-cause he wolde slepen, as he seyde,
And hastely up-on his bed him leyde.

And as in winter leves been biraft,  
Eche after other, til the tree be bare,
So that ther nis but bark and braunche y-laft,
Lyth Troilus, biraft of ech wel-fare,
Y-bounden in the blake bark of care,
Disposed wood out of his wit to breyde,  
So sore him sat the chaunginge of Criseyde.

He rist him up, and every dore he shette
And windowe eek, and tho this sorweful man
Up-on his beddes syde a-doun him sette,
Ful lyk a deed image pale and wan;  
And in his brest the heped wo bigan
Out-breste, and he to werken in this wyse
In his woodnesse, as I shal yow devyse.

Right as the wilde bole biginneth springe
Now here, now there, y-darted to the herte,  
And of his deeth roreth in compleyninge,
Right so gan he aboute the chaumbre sterte,
Smyting his brest ay with his festes smerte;
His heed to the wal, his body to the grounde
Ful ofte he swapte, him-selven to confounde.  

His eyen two, for pitee of his herte,
Out stremeden as swifte welles tweye;
The heighe sobbes of his sorwes smerte
His speche him refte, unnethes mighte he seye,
'O deeth, allas! Why niltow do me deye?  
A-cursed be the day which that nature
Shoop me to ben a lyves creature!'

But after, whan the furie and the rage
Which that his herte twiste and faste threste,
By lengthe of tyme somwhat gan asswage,  
Up-on his bed he leyde him doun to reste;
But tho bigonne his teres more out-breste,
That wonder is, the body may suffyse
To half this wo, which that I yow devyse.

Than seyde he thus, 'Fortune! Allas the whyle!  
What have I doon, what have I thus a-gilt?
How mightestow for reuthe me bigyle?
Is ther no grace, and shal I thus be spilt?
Shal thus Criseyde awey, for that thou wilt?
Allas! How maystow in thyn herte finde  
To been to me thus cruel and unkinde?

'Have I thee nought honoured al my lyve,
As thou wel wost, above the goddes alle?
Why wiltow me fro Ioye thus depryve?
O Troilus, what may men now thee calle  
But wrecche of wrecches, out of honour falle
In-to miserie, in which I wol biwayle
Criseyde, allas! Til that the breeth me fayle?

'Allas, Fortune! If that my lyf in Ioye
Displesed hadde un-to thy foule envye,  
Why ne haddestow my fader, king of Troye,
By-raft the lyf, or doon my bretheren dye,
Or slayn my-self, that thus compleyne and crye,
I, combre-world, that may of no-thing serve,
But ever dye, and never fully sterve?  

'If that Criseyde allone were me laft,
Nought roughte I whider thou woldest me stere;
And hir, allas! Than hastow me biraft.
But ever-more, lo! This is thy manere,
To reve a wight that most is to him dere,  
To preve in that thy gerful violence.
Thus am I lost, ther helpeth no defence!

'O verray lord of love, O god, allas!
That knowest best myn herte and al my thought,
What shal my sorwful lyf don in this cas  
If I for-go that I so dere have bought?
Sin ye Cryseyde and me han fully brought
In-to your grace, and bothe our hertes seled,
How may ye suffre, allas! It be repeled?

'What I may doon, I shal, whyl I may dure  
On lyve in torment and in cruel peyne,
This infortune or this disaventure,
Allone as I was born, y-wis, compleyne;
Ne never wil I seen it shyne or reyne;
But ende I wil, as Edippe, in derknesse  
My sorwful lyf, and dyen in distresse.

'O wery goost, that errest to and fro,
Why niltow fleen out of the wofulleste
Body, that ever mighte on grounde go?
O soule, lurkinge in this wo, unneste,  
Flee forth out of myn herte, and lat it breste,
And folwe alwey Criseyde, thy lady dere;
Thy righte place is now no lenger here!

'O wofulle eyen two, sin your disport
Was al to seen Criseydes eyen brighte,  
What shal ye doon but, for my discomfort,
Stonden for nought, and wepen out your sighte?
Sin she is queynt, that wont was yow to lighte,
In veyn fro-this-forth have I eyen tweye
Y-formed, sin your vertue is a-weye.  

'O my Criseyde, O lady sovereyne
Of thilke woful soule that thus cryeth,
Who shal now yeven comfort to the peyne?
Allas, no wight; but when myn herte dyeth,
My spirit, which that so un-to yow hyeth,  
Receyve in gree, for that shal ay yow serve;
For-thy no fors is, though the body sterve.

'O ye loveres, that heighe upon the wheel
Ben set of Fortune, in good aventure,
God leve that ye finde ay love of steel,  
And longe mot your lyf in Ioye endure!
But whan ye comen by my sepulture,
Remembreth that your felawe resteth there;
For I lovede eek, though I unworthy were.

'O olde, unholsom, and mislyved man,  
Calkas I mene, allas! What eyleth thee
To been a Greek, sin thou art born Troian?
O Calkas, which that wilt my bane be,
In cursed tyme was thou born for me!
As wolde blisful Iove, for his Ioye,  
That I thee hadde, where I wolde, in Troye!'

A thousand sykes, hottere than the glede,
Out of his brest ech after other wente,
Medled with pleyntes newe, his wo to fede,
For which his woful teres never stente;  
And shortly, so his peynes him to-rente,
And wex so mat, that Ioye nor penaunce
He feleth noon, but lyth forth in a traunce.

Pandare, which that in the parlement
Hadde herd what every lord and burgeys seyde,  
And how ful graunted was, by oon assent,
For Antenor to yelden so Criseyde,
Gan wel neigh wood out of his wit to breyde,
So that, for wo, he niste what he mente;
But in a rees to Troilus he wente.  

A certeyn knight, that for the tyme kepte
The chaumbre-dore, un-dide it him anoon;
And Pandare, that ful tendreliche wepte,
In-to the derke chaumbre, as stille as stoon,
Toward the bed gan softely to goon,  
So confus, that he niste what to seye;
For verray wo his wit was neigh aweye.

And with his chere and loking al to-torn,
For sorwe of this, and with his armes folden,
He stood this woful Troilus biforn,  
And on his pitous face he gan biholden;
But lord, so often gan his herte colden,
Seing his freend in wo, whos hevinesse
His herte slow, as thoughte him, for distresse.

This woful wight, this Troilus, that felte  
His freend Pandare y-comen him to see,
Gan as the snow ayein the sonne melte,
For which this sorwful Pandare, of pitee,
Gan for to wepe as tendreliche as he;
And specheles thus been thise ilke tweye,  
That neyther mighte o word for sorwe seye.

But at the laste this woful Troilus,
Ney deed for smert, gan bresten out to rore,
And with a sorwful noyse he seyde thus,
Among his sobbes and his sykes sore,  
'Lo! Pandare, I am deed, with-oute

The double 12 sorwe of Troilus to tellen,  
That was the king Priamus sone of Troye,
In lovinge, how his aventures fellen
Fro wo to wele, and after out of Ioye,
My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye.  
Thesiphone, thou help me for tendyte
Thise woful vers, that wepen as I wryte!

To thee clepe I, thou goddesse of torment,
Thou cruel Furie, sorwing ever in peyne;
Help me, that am the sorwful instrument  
That helpeth lovers, as I can, to pleyne!
For wel sit it, the sothe for to seyne,
A woful wight to han a drery fere,
And, to a sorwful tale, a sory chere.

For I, that god of Loves servaunts serve,  
Ne dar to Love, for myn unlyklinesse,
Preyen for speed, al sholde I therfor sterve,
So fer am I fro his help in derknesse;
But nathelees, if this may doon gladnesse
To any lover, and his cause avayle,  
Have he my thank, and myn be this travayle!

But ye loveres, that bathen in gladnesse,
If any drope of pitee in yow be,
Remembreth yow on passed hevinesse
That ye han felt, and on the adversitee  
Of othere folk, and thenketh how that ye
Han felt that Love dorste yow displese;
Or ye han wonne hym with to greet an ese.

And preyeth for hem that ben in the cas
Of Troilus, as ye may after here,  
That love hem bringe in hevene to solas,
And eek for me preyeth to god so dere,
That I have might to shewe, in som manere,
Swich peyne and wo as Loves folk endure,
In Troilus unsely aventure.  

And biddeth eek for hem that been despeyred
In love, that never nil recovered be,
And eek for hem that falsly been apeyred
Thorugh wikked tonges, be it he or she;
Thus biddeth god, for his benignitee,  
So graunte hem sone out of this world to pace,
That been despeyred out of Loves grace.

And biddeth eek for hem that been at ese,
That god hem graunte ay good perseveraunce,
And sende hem might hir ladies so to plese,  
That it to Love be worship and plesaunce.
For so hope I my soule best avaunce,
To preye for hem that Loves servaunts be,
And wryte hir wo, and live in charitee.

And for to have of hem compassioun  
As though I were hir owene brother dere.
Now herkeneth with a gode entencioun,
For now wol I gon streight to my matere,
In whiche ye may the double sorwes here
Of Troilus, in loving of Criseyde,  
And how that she forsook him er she deyde.

It is wel wist, how that the Grekes stronge
In armes with a thousand shippes wente
To Troyewardes, and the citee longe
Assegeden neigh ten yeer er they stente,  
And, in diverse wyse and oon entente,
The ravisshing to wreken of Eleyne,
By Paris doon, they wroughten al hir peyne.

Now fil it so, that in the toun ther was
Dwellinge a lord of greet auctoritee,  
A gret devyn that cleped was Calkas,
That in science so expert was, that he
Knew wel that Troye sholde destroyed be,
By answere of his god, that highte thus,
Daun Phebus or Apollo Delphicus.  

So whan this Calkas knew by calculinge,
And eek by answere of this Appollo,
That Grekes sholden swich a peple bringe,
Thorugh which that Troye moste been for-do,
He caste anoon out of the toun to go;  
For wel wiste he, by sort, that Troye sholde
Destroyed ben, ye, wolde who-so nolde.

For which, for to departen softely
Took purpos ful this forknowinge wyse,
And to the Grekes ost ful prively  
He stal anoon; and they, in curteys wyse,
Hym deden bothe worship and servyse,
In trust that he hath conning hem to rede
In every peril which that is to drede.

The noyse up roos, whan it was first aspyed,  
Thorugh al the toun, and generally was spoken,
That Calkas traytor fled was, and allyed
With hem of Grece; and casten to ben wroken
On him that falsly hadde his feith so broken;
And seyden, he and al his kin at ones  
Ben worthy for to brennen, fel and bones.

Now hadde Calkas left, in this meschaunce,
Al unwist of this false and wikked dede,
His doughter, which that was in gret penaunce,
For of hir lyf she was ful sore in drede,  
As she that niste what was best to rede;
For bothe a widowe was she, and allone
Of any freend to whom she dorste hir mone.

Criseyde was this lady name a-right;
As to my dome, in al Troyes citee  
Nas noon so fair, for passing every wight
So aungellyk was hir natyf beautee,
That lyk a thing immortal semed she,
As doth an hevenish parfit creature,
That doun were sent in scorning of nature.  

This lady, which that al-day herde at ere
Hir fadres shame, his falsnesse and tresoun,
Wel nigh out of hir wit for sorwe and fere,
In widewes habit large of samit broun,
On knees she fil biforn Ector a-doun;  
With pitous voys, and tendrely wepinge,
His mercy bad, hir-selven excusinge.

Now was this Ector pitous of nature,
And saw that she was sorwfully bigoon,
And that she was so fair a creature;  
Of his goodnesse he gladed hir anoon,
And seyde, 'Lat your fadres treson goon
Forth with mischaunce, and ye your-self, in Ioye,
Dwelleth with us, whyl you good list, in Troye.

'And al thonour that men may doon yow have,  
As ferforth as your fader dwelled here,
Ye shul han, and your body shal men save,
As fer as I may ought enquere or here.'
And she him thonked with ful humble chere,
And ofter wolde, and it hadde ben his wille,  
And took hir leve, and hoom, and held hir stille.

And in hir hous she abood with swich meynee
As to hir honour nede was to holde;
And whyl she was dwellinge in that citee,
Kepte hir estat, and bothe of yonge and olde  
Ful wel beloved, and wel men of hir tolde.
But whether that she children hadde or noon,
I rede it naught; therfore I late it goon.

The thinges fellen, as they doon of werre,
Bitwixen hem of Troye and Grekes ofte;  
For som day boughten they of Troye it derre,
And eft the Grekes founden no thing softe
The folk of Troye; and thus fortune on-lofte,
And under eft, gan hem to wheelen bothe
After hir cours, ay whyl they were wrothe.  

But how this toun com to destruccioun
Ne falleth nought to purpos me to telle;
For it were a long digressioun
Fro my matere, and yow to longe dwelle.
But the Troyane gestes, as they felle,  
In Omer, or in Dares, or in Dyte,
Who-so that can, may rede hem as they wryte.

But though that Grekes hem of Troye shetten,
And hir citee bisegede al a-boute,
Hir olde usage wolde they not letten,  
As for to honoure hir goddes ful devoute;
But aldermost in honour, out of doute,
They hadde a relik hight Palladion,
That was hir trist a-boven everichon.

And so bifel, whan comen was the tyme  
Of Aperil, whan clothed is the mede
With newe grene, of ***** Ver the pryme,
And swote smellen floures whyte and rede,
In sondry wyses shewed, as I rede,
The folk of Troye hir observaunces olde,  
Palladiones feste for to holde.

And to the temple, in al hir beste wyse,
In general, ther wente many a wight,
To herknen of Palladion servyse;
And namely, so many a ***** knight,  
So many a lady fresh and mayden bright,
Ful wel arayed, bothe moste and leste,
Ye, bothe for the seson and the feste.

Among thise othere folk was Criseyda,
In widewes habite blak; but nathelees,  
Right as our firste lettre is now an A,
In beautee first so stood she, makelees;
Hir godly looking gladede al the prees.
Nas never seyn thing to ben preysed derre,
Nor under cloude blak so bright a sterre  

As was Criseyde, as folk seyde everichoon
That hir behelden in hir blake wede;
And yet she stood ful lowe and stille alloon,
Bihinden othere folk, in litel brede,
And neigh the dore, ay under shames drede,  
Simple of a-tyr, and debonaire of chere,
With ful assured loking and manere.

This Troilus, as he was wont to gyde
His yonge knightes, ladde hem up and doun
In thilke large temple on every syde,  
Biholding ay the ladyes of the toun,
Now here, now there, for no devocioun
Hadde he to noon, to reven him his reste,
But gan to preyse and lakken whom him leste.

And in his walk ful fast he gan to wayten  
If knight or squyer of his companye
Gan for to syke, or lete his eyen bayten
On any woman that he coude aspye;
He wolde smyle, and holden it folye,
And seye him thus, 'god wot, she slepeth softe  
For love of thee, whan thou tornest ful ofte!

'I have herd told, pardieux, of your livinge,
Ye lovers, and your lewede observaunces,
And which a labour folk han in winninge
Of love, and, in the keping, which doutaunces;  
And whan your preye is lost, wo and penaunces;
O verrey foles! nyce and blinde be ye;
Ther nis not oon can war by other be.'

And with that word he gan cast up the browe,
Ascaunces, 'Lo! is this nought wysly spoken?'  
At which the god of love gan loken rowe
Right for despyt, and shoop for to ben wroken;
He kidde anoon his bowe nas not broken;
For sodeynly he hit him at the fulle;
And yet as proud a pekok can he pulle.  

O blinde world, O blinde entencioun!
How ofte falleth al theffect contraire
Of surquidrye and foul presumpcioun;
For caught is proud, and caught is debonaire.
This Troilus is clomben on the staire,  
And litel weneth that he moot descenden.
But al-day falleth thing that foles ne wenden.

As proude Bayard ginneth for to skippe
Out of the wey, so priketh him his corn,
Til he a lash have of the longe whippe,  
Than thenketh he, 'Though I praunce al biforn
First in the trays, ful fat and newe shorn,
Yet am I but an hors, and horses lawe
I moot endure, and with my feres drawe.'

So ferde it by this fers and proude knight;  
Though he a worthy kinges sone were,
And wende nothing hadde had swiche might
Ayens his wil that sholde his herte stere,
Yet with a look his herte wex a-fere,
That he, that now was most in pryde above,  
Wex sodeynly most subget un-to love.

For-thy ensample taketh of this man,
Ye wyse, proude, and worthy folkes alle,
To scornen Love, which that so sone can
The freedom of your hertes to him thralle;  
For ever it was, and ever it shal bifalle,
That Love is he that alle thing may binde;
For may no man for-do the lawe of kinde.

That this be sooth, hath preved and doth yet;
For this trowe I ye knowen, alle or some,  
Men reden not that folk han gretter wit
Than they that han be most with love y-nome;
And strengest folk ben therwith overcome,
The worthiest and grettest of degree:
This was, and is, and yet men shal it see.  

And trewelich it sit wel to be so;
For alderwysest han ther-with ben plesed;
And they that han ben aldermost in wo,
With love han ben conforted most and esed;
And ofte it hath the cruel herte apesed,  
And worthy folk maad worthier of name,
And causeth most to dreden vyce and shame.

Now sith it may not goodly be withstonde,
And is a thing so vertuous in kinde,
Refuseth not to Love for to be bonde,  
Sin, as him-selven list, he may yow binde.
The yerde is bet that bowen wole and winde
Than that that brest; and therfor I yow rede
To folwen him that so wel can yow lede.

But for to tellen forth in special  
As of this kinges sone of which I tolde,
And leten other thing collateral,
Of him thenke I my tale for to holde,
Both of his Ioye, and of his cares colde;
And al his werk, as touching this matere,  
For I it gan, I wol ther-to refere.

With-inne the temple he wente him forth pleyinge,
This Troilus, of every wight aboute,
On this lady and now on that lokinge,
Wher-so she were of toune, or of with-oute:  
And up-on cas bifel, that thorugh a route
His eye perced, and so depe it wente,
Til on Criseyde it smoot, and ther it stente.

And sodeynly he wax ther-with astoned,
And gan hire bet biholde in thrifty wyse:  
'O mercy, god!' thoughte he, 'wher hastow woned,
That art so fair and goodly to devyse?'
Ther-with his herte gan to sprede and ryse,
And softe sighed, lest men mighte him here,
And caughte a-yein his firste pleyinge chere.  

She nas nat with the leste of hir stature,
But alle hir limes so wel answeringe
Weren to womanhode, that creature
Was neuer lasse mannish in seminge.
And eek the pure wyse of here meninge  
Shewede wel, that men might in hir gesse
Honour, estat, and wommanly noblesse.

To Troilus right wonder wel with-alle
Gan for to lyke hir meninge and hir chere,
Which somdel deynous was, for she leet falle  
Hir look a lite a-side, in swich manere,
Ascaunces, 'What! May I not stonden here?'
And after that hir loking gan she lighte,
That never thoughte him seen so good a sighte.

And of hir look in him ther gan to quiken  
So greet desir, and swich affeccioun,
That in his herte botme gan to stiken
Of hir his fixe and depe impressioun:
And though he erst hadde poured up and doun,
He was tho glad his hornes in to shrinke;  
Unnethes wiste he how to loke or winke.

Lo, he that leet him-selven so konninge,
And scorned hem that loves peynes dryen,
Was ful unwar that love hadde his dwellinge
With-inne the subtile stremes of hir yen;  
That sodeynly him thoughte he felte dyen,
Right with hir look, the spirit in his herte;
Blissed be love, that thus can folk converte!

She, this in blak, likinge to Troylus,
Over alle thyng, he stood for to biholde;  
Ne his desir, ne wherfor he stood thus,
He neither chere made, ne worde tolde;
But from a-fer, his maner for to holde,
On other thing his look som-tyme he caste,
And eft on hir, whyl that servyse laste.  

And after this, not fulliche al awhaped,
Out of the temple al esiliche he wente,
Repentinge him that he hadde ever y-iaped
Of loves folk, lest fully the descente
Of scorn fille on him-self; but, what he mente,  
Lest it were wist on any maner syde,
His wo he gan dissimulen and hyde.

Whan he was fro the temple thus departed,
He streyght anoon un-to his paleys torneth,
Right with hir look thurgh-shoten and thurgh-darted,  
Al feyneth he in lust that he soiorneth;
And al his chere and speche also he borneth;
And ay, of loves servants every whyle,
Him-self to wrye, at hem he gan to smyle.

And seyde, 'Lord, so ye live al in lest,  
Ye loveres! For the conningest of yow,
That serveth most ententiflich and best,
Him *** as often harm ther-of as prow;
Your hyre is quit ayein, ye, god wot how!
Nought wel for wel, but scorn for good servyse;  
In feith, your ordre is ruled in good wyse!

'In noun-certeyn ben alle your observaunces,
But it a sely fewe poyntes be;
Ne no-thing asketh so grete attendaunces
As doth youre lay, and that knowe alle ye;  
But that is not the worste, as mote I thee;
But, tolde I yow the worste poynt, I leve,
Al seyde I sooth, ye wolden at me greve!

'But tak this, that ye loveres ofte eschuwe,
Or elles doon of good entencioun,  
Ful ofte thy lady wole it misconstrue,
And deme it harm in hir opinioun;
And yet if she, for other enchesoun,
Be wrooth, than shalt thou han a groyn anoon:
Lord! wel is him that may be of yow oon!'  

But for al this, whan that he say his tyme,
He held his pees, non other bote him gayned;
For love bigan his fetheres so to lyme,
That wel unnethe un-to his folk he fayned
That othere besye nedes him destrayned;  
For wo was him, that what to doon he niste,
But bad his folk to goon wher that hem liste.

And whan that he in chaumbre was allone,
He doun up-on his beddes feet him sette,
And first be gan to syke, and eft to grone,  
And thoughte ay on hir so, with-outen lette,
That, as he sat and wook, his spirit mette
That he hir saw a temple, and al the wyse
Right of hir loke, and gan it newe avyse.

Thus gan he make a mirour of his minde,  
In which he saugh al hoolly hir figure;
And that he wel coude in his herte finde,
It was to him a right good aventure
To love swich oon, and if he dide his cure
To serven hir, yet mighte he falle in grace,  
Or elles, for oon of hir servaunts pace.

Imagininge that travaille nor grame
Ne mighte, for so goodly oon, be lorn
As she, ne him for his desir ne shame,
Al were it wist, but in prys and up-born  
Of alle lovers wel more than biforn;
Thus argumented he in his ginninge,
Ful unavysed of his wo cominge.

Thus took he purpos loves craft to suwe,
And thou

Incipit prohemium tercii libri.

O blisful light of whiche the bemes clere  
Adorneth al the thridde hevene faire!
O sonnes lief, O Ioves doughter dere,
Plesaunce of love, O goodly debonaire,
In gentil hertes ay redy to repaire!  
O verray cause of hele and of gladnesse,
Y-heried be thy might and thy goodnesse!

In hevene and helle, in erthe and salte see
Is felt thy might, if that I wel descerne;
As man, brid, best, fish, herbe and grene tree  
Thee fele in tymes with vapour eterne.
God loveth, and to love wol nought werne;
And in this world no lyves creature,
With-outen love, is worth, or may endure.

Ye Ioves first to thilke effectes glade,  
Thorugh which that thinges liven alle and be,
Comeveden, and amorous him made
On mortal thing, and as yow list, ay ye
Yeve him in love ese or adversitee;
And in a thousand formes doun him sente  
For love in erthe, and whom yow liste, he hente.

Ye fierse Mars apeysen of his ire,
And, as yow list, ye maken hertes digne;
Algates, hem that ye wol sette a-fyre,
They dreden shame, and vices they resigne;  
Ye do hem corteys be, fresshe and benigne,
And hye or lowe, after a wight entendeth;
The Ioyes that he hath, your might him sendeth.

Ye holden regne and hous in unitee;
Ye soothfast cause of frendship been also;  
Ye knowe al thilke covered qualitee
Of thinges which that folk on wondren so,
Whan they can not construe how it may io,
She loveth him, or why he loveth here;
As why this fish, and nought that, comth to were.  

Ye folk a lawe han set in universe,
And this knowe I by hem that loveres be,
That who-so stryveth with yow hath the werse:
Now, lady bright, for thy benignitee,
At reverence of hem that serven thee,  
Whos clerk I am, so techeth me devyse
Som Ioye of that is felt in thy servyse.

Ye in my naked herte sentement
Inhelde, and do me shewe of thy swetnesse. --
Caliope, thy vois be now present,  
For now is nede; sestow not my destresse,
How I mot telle anon-right the gladnesse
Of Troilus, to Venus heryinge?
To which gladnes, who nede hath, god him bringe!

Explicit prohemium Tercii Libri.

Incipit Liber Tercius.

Lay al this mene whyle Troilus,  
Recordinge his lessoun in this manere,
'Ma fey!' thought he, 'Thus wole I seye and thus;
Thus wole I pleyne unto my lady dere;
That word is good, and this shal be my chere;
This nil I not foryeten in no wyse.'  
God leve him werken as he can devyse!

And, lord, so that his herte gan to quappe,
Heringe hir come, and shorte for to syke!
And Pandarus, that ledde hir by the lappe,
Com ner, and gan in at the curtin pyke,  
And seyde, 'God do bote on alle syke!
See, who is here yow comen to visyte;
Lo, here is she that is your deeth to wyte.'

Ther-with it semed as he wepte almost;
'A ha,' quod Troilus so rewfully,  
'Wher me be wo, O mighty god, thow wost!
Who is al there? I se nought trewely.'
'Sire,' quod Criseyde, 'it is Pandare and I.'
'Ye, swete herte? Allas, I may nought ryse
To knele, and do yow honour in som wyse.'  

And dressede him upward, and she right tho
Gan bothe here hondes softe upon him leye,
'O, for the love of god, do ye not so
To me,' quod she, 'Ey! What is this to seye?
Sire, come am I to yow for causes tweye;  
First, yow to thonke, and of your lordshipe eke
Continuance I wolde yow biseke.'

This Troilus, that herde his lady preye
Of lordship him, wex neither quik ne deed,
Ne mighte a word for shame to it seye,  
Al-though men sholde smyten of his heed.
But lord, so he wex sodeinliche reed,
And sire, his lesson, that he wende conne,
To preyen hir, is thurgh his wit y-ronne.

Cryseyde al this aspyede wel y-nough,  
For she was wys, and lovede him never-the-lasse,
Al nere he malapert, or made it tough,
Or was to bold, to singe a fool a masse.
But whan his shame gan somwhat to passe,
His resons, as I may my rymes holde,  
I yow wole telle, as techen bokes olde.

In chaunged vois, right for his verray drede,
Which vois eek quook, and ther-to his manere
Goodly abayst, and now his hewes rede,
Now pale, un-to Criseyde, his lady dere,  
With look doun cast and humble yolden chere,
Lo, the alderfirste word that him asterte
Was, twyes, 'Mercy, mercy, swete herte!'

And stinte a whyl, and whan he mighte out-bringe,
The nexte word was, 'God wot, for I have,  
As feyfully as I have had konninge,
Ben youres, also god so my sowle save;
And shal til that I, woful wight, be grave.
And though I dar ne can un-to yow pleyne,
Y-wis, I suffre nought the lasse peyne.  

'Thus muche as now, O wommanliche wyf,
I may out-bringe, and if this yow displese,
That shal I wreke upon myn owne lyf
Right sone, I trowe, and doon your herte an ese,
If with my deeth your herte I may apese.  
But sin that ye han herd me som-what seye,
Now recche I never how sone that I deye.'

Ther-with his manly sorwe to biholde,
It mighte han maad an herte of stoon to rewe;
And Pandare weep as he to watre wolde,  
And poked ever his nece newe and newe,
And seyde, 'Wo bigon ben hertes trewe!
For love of god, make of this thing an ende,
Or slee us bothe at ones, er that ye wende.'

'I? What?' quod she, 'By god and by my trouthe,  
I noot nought what ye wilne that I seye.'
'I? What?' quod he, 'That ye han on him routhe,
For goddes love, and doth him nought to deye.'
'Now thanne thus,' quod she, 'I wolde him preye
To telle me the fyn of his entente;  
Yet wist I never wel what that he mente.'

'What that I mene, O swete herte dere?'
Quod Troilus, 'O goodly, fresshe free!
That, with the stremes of your eyen clere,
Ye wolde som-tyme freendly on me see,  
And thanne agreen that I may ben he,
With-oute braunche of vyce on any wyse,
In trouthe alwey to doon yow my servyse,

'As to my lady right and chief resort,
With al my wit and al my diligence,  
And I to han, right as yow list, comfort,
Under your yerde, egal to myn offence,
As deeth, if that I breke your defence;
And that ye deigne me so muche honoure,
Me to comaunden ought in any houre.  

'And I to ben your verray humble trewe,
Secret, and in my paynes pacient,
And ever-mo desire freshly newe,
To serven, and been y-lyke ay diligent,
And, with good herte, al holly your talent  
Receyven wel, how sore that me smerte,
Lo, this mene I, myn owene swete herte.'

Quod Pandarus, 'Lo, here an hard request,
And resonable, a lady for to werne!
Now, nece myn, by natal Ioves fest,  
Were I a god, ye sholde sterve as yerne,
That heren wel, this man wol no-thing yerne
But your honour, and seen him almost sterve,
And been so looth to suffren him yow serve.'

With that she gan hir eyen on him caste  
Ful esily, and ful debonairly,
Avysing hir, and hyed not to faste
With never a word, but seyde him softely,
'Myn honour sauf, I wol wel trewely,
And in swich forme as he can now devyse,  
Receyven him fully to my servyse,

'Biseching him, for goddes love, that he
Wolde, in honour of trouthe and gentilesse,
As I wel mene, eek mene wel to me,
And myn honour, with wit and besinesse  
Ay kepe; and if I may don him gladnesse,
From hennes-forth, y-wis, I nil not feyne:
Now beeth al hool; no lenger ye ne pleyne.

'But nathelees, this warne I yow,' quod she,
'A kinges sone al-though ye be, y-wis,  
Ye shal na-more have soverainetee
Of me in love, than right in that cas is;
Ne I nil forbere, if that ye doon a-mis,
To wrathen yow; and whyl that ye me serve,
Cherycen yow right after ye deserve.  

'And shortly, dere herte and al my knight,
Beth glad, and draweth yow to lustinesse,
And I shal trewely, with al my might,
Your bittre tornen al in-to swetenesse.
If I be she that may yow do gladnesse,  
For every wo ye shal recovere a blisse';
And him in armes took, and gan him kisse.

Fil Pandarus on knees, and up his eyen
To hevene threw, and held his hondes hye,
'Immortal god!' quod he, 'That mayst nought dyen,  
Cupide I mene, of this mayst glorifye;
And Venus, thou mayst maken melodye;
With-outen hond, me semeth that in the towne,
For this merveyle, I here ech belle sowne.

'But **! No more as now of this matere,  
For-why this folk wol comen up anoon,
That han the lettre red; lo, I hem here.
But I coniure thee, Criseyde, and oon,
And two, thou Troilus, whan thow mayst goon,
That at myn hous ye been at my warninge,  
For I ful wel shal shape youre cominge;

'And eseth ther your hertes right y-nough;
And lat see which of yow shal bere the belle
To speke of love a-right!' ther-with he lough,
'For ther have ye a layser for to telle.'  
Quod Troilus, 'How longe shal I dwelle
Er this be doon?' Quod he, 'Whan thou mayst ryse,
This thing shal be right as I yow devyse.'

With that Eleyne and also Deiphebus
Tho comen upward, right at the steyres ende;  
And Lord, so than gan grone Troilus,
His brother and his suster for to blende.
Quod Pandarus, 'It tyme is that we wende;
Tak, nece myn, your leve at alle three,
And lat hem speke, and cometh forth with me.'  

She took hir leve at hem ful thriftily,
As she wel coude, and they hir reverence
Un-to the fulle diden hardely,
And speken wonder wel, in hir absence,
Of hir, in preysing of hir excellence,  
Hir governaunce, hir wit; and hir manere
Commendeden, it Ioye was to here.

Now lat hir wende un-to hir owne place,
And torne we to Troilus a-yein,
That gan ful lightly of the lettre passe  
That Deiphebus hadde in the gardin seyn.
And of Eleyne and him he wolde fayn
Delivered been, and seyde that him leste
To slepe, and after tales have reste.

Eleyne him kiste, and took hir leve blyve,  
Deiphebus eek, and hoom wente every wight;
And Pandarus, as faste as he may dryve,
To Troilus tho com, as lyne right;
And on a paillet, al that glade night,
By Troilus he lay, with mery chere,  
To tale; and wel was hem they were y-fere.

Whan every wight was voided but they two,
And alle the dores were faste y-shette,
To telle in short, with-oute wordes mo,
This Pandarus, with-outen any lette,  
Up roos, and on his beddes syde him sette,
And gan to speken in a sobre wyse
To Troilus, as I shal yow devyse:

'Myn alderlevest lord, and brother dere,
God woot, and thou, that it sat me so sore,  
When I thee saw so languisshing to-yere,
For love, of which thy wo wex alwey more;
That I, with al my might and al my lore,
Have ever sithen doon my bisinesse
To bringe thee to Ioye out of distresse,  

'And have it brought to swich plyt as thou wost,
So that, thorugh me, thow stondest now in weye
To fare wel, I seye it for no bost,
And wostow which? For shame it is to seye,
For thee have I bigonne a gamen pleye  
Which that I never doon shal eft for other,
Al-though he were a thousand fold my brother.

'That is to seye, for thee am I bicomen,
Bitwixen game and ernest, swich a mene
As maken wommen un-to men to comen;  
Al sey I nought, thou wost wel what I mene.
For thee have I my nece, of vyces clene,
So fully maad thy gentilesse triste,
That al shal been right as thy-selve liste.

'But god, that al wot, take I to witnesse,  
That never I this for coveityse wroughte,
But only for to abregge that distresse,
For which wel nygh thou deydest, as me thoughte.
But, gode brother, do now as thee oughte,
For goddes love, and kep hir out of blame,  
Sin thou art wys, and save alwey hir name.

'For wel thou wost, the name as yet of here
Among the peple, as who seyth, halwed is;
For that man is unbore, I dar wel swere,
That ever wiste that she dide amis.  
But wo is me, that I, that cause al this,
May thenken that she is my nece dere,
And I hir eem, and trattor eek y-fere!

'And were it wist that I, through myn engyn,
Hadde in my nece y-put this fantasye,  
To do thy lust, and hoolly to be thyn,
Why, al the world up-on it wolde crye,
And seye, that I the worste trecherye
Dide in this cas, that ever was bigonne,
And she for-lost, and thou right nought y-wonne.  

'Wher-fore, er I wol ferther goon a pas,
Yet eft I thee biseche and fully seye,
That privetee go with us in this cas;
That is to seye, that thou us never wreye;
And be nought wrooth, though I thee ofte preye  
To holden secree swich an heigh matere;
For skilful is, thow wost wel, my preyere.

'And thenk what wo ther hath bitid er this,
For makinge of avantes, as men rede;
And what mischaunce in this world yet ther is,  
Fro day to day, right for that wikked dede;
For which these wyse clerkes that ben dede
Han ever yet proverbed to us yonge,
That "Firste vertu is to kepe tonge."

'And, nere it that I wilne as now tabregge  
Diffusioun of speche, I coude almost
A thousand olde stories thee alegge
Of wommen lost, thorugh fals and foles bost;
Proverbes canst thy-self y-nowe, and wost,
Ayeins that vyce, for to been a labbe,  
Al seyde men sooth as often as they gabbe.

'O tonge, allas! So often here-biforn
Hastow made many a lady bright of hewe
Seyd, "Welawey! The day that I was born!"
And many a maydes sorwes for to newe;  
And, for the more part, al is untrewe
That men of yelpe, and it were brought to preve;
Of kinde non avauntour is to leve.

'Avauntour and a lyere, al is on;
As thus: I pose, a womman graunte me  
Hir love, and seyth that other wol she non,
And I am sworn to holden it secree,
And after I go telle it two or three;
Y-wis, I am avauntour at the leste,
And lyere, for I breke my biheste.  

'Now loke thanne, if they be nought to blame,
Swich maner folk; what shal I clepe hem, what,
That hem avaunte of wommen, and by name,
That never yet bihighte hem this ne that,
Ne knewe hem more than myn olde hat?  
No wonder is, so god me sende hele,
Though wommen drede with us men to dele.

'I sey not this for no mistrust of yow,
Ne for no wys man, but for foles nyce,
And for the harm that in the world is now,  
As wel for foly ofte as for malyce;
For wel wot I, in wyse folk, that vyce
No womman drat, if she be wel avysed;
For wyse ben by foles harm chastysed.

'But now to purpos; leve brother dere,  
Have al this thing that I have seyd in minde,
And keep thee clos, and be now of good chere,
For at thy day thou shalt me trewe finde.
I shal thy proces sette in swich a kinde,
And god to-forn, that it shall thee suffyse,  
For it shal been right as thou wolt devyse.

'For wel I woot, thou menest wel, parde;
Therfore I dar this fully undertake.
Thou wost eek what thy lady graunted thee,
And day is set, the chartres up to make.  
Have now good night, I may no lenger wake;
And bid for me, sin thou art now in blisse,
That god me sende deeth or sone lisse.'

Who mighte telle half the Ioye or feste
Which that the sowle of Troilus tho felte,  
Heringe theffect of Pandarus biheste?
His olde wo, that made his herte swelte,
Gan tho for Ioye wasten and to-melte,
And al the richesse of his sykes sore
At ones fledde, he felte of hem no more.  

But right so as these holtes and these hayes,
That han in winter dede been and dreye,
Revesten hem in grene, whan that May is,
Whan every ***** lyketh best to pleye;
Right in that selve wyse, sooth to seye,  
Wax sodeynliche his herte ful of Ioye,
That gladder was ther never man in Troye.

And gan his look on Pandarus up caste
Ful sobrely, and frendly for to see,
And seyde, 'Freend, in Aprille the laste,  
As wel thou wost, if it remembre thee,
How neigh the deeth for wo thou founde me;
And how thou didest al thy bisinesse
To knowe of me the cause of my distresse.

'Thou wost how longe I it for-bar to seye  
To thee, that art the man that I best triste;
And peril was it noon to thee by-wreye,
That wiste I wel; but tel me, if thee liste,
Sith I so looth was that thy-self it wiste,
How dorst I mo tellen of this matere,  
That quake now, and no wight may us here?

'But natheles, by that god I thee swere,
That, as him list, may al this world governe,
And, if I lye, Achilles with his spere
Myn herte cleve, al were my lyf eterne,  
As I am mortal, if I late or yerne
Wolde it b

acordo
da negritude dos meus sonhos
envolto em pensamentos...

oprimido
desprezado
de corpo cansado

sinto a alma morrer
no suicídio dos meus dias

sobrevivo
à realidade
entorpecido pelo amargo veneno
das tristezas
que em mim habitam

estou longe

silêncio

estou longe de mim mesmo
mas estou perto de ti

Incipit Liber Quintus.

Aprochen gan the fatal destinee
That Ioves hath in disposicioun,
And to yow, angry Parcas, sustren three,
Committeth, to don execucioun;
For which Criseyde moste out of the toun,  
And Troilus shal dwelle forth in pyne
Til Lachesis his threed no lenger twyne. --

The golden-tressed Phebus heighe on-lofte
Thryes hadde alle with his bemes shene
The snowes molte, and Zephirus as ofte  
Y-brought ayein the tendre leves grene,
Sin that the sone of Ecuba the quene
Bigan to love hir first, for whom his sorwe
Was al, that she departe sholde a-morwe.

Ful redy was at pryme Dyomede,  
Criseyde un-to the Grekes ost to lede,
For sorwe of which she felt hir herte blede,
As she that niste what was best to rede.
And trewely, as men in bokes rede,
Men wiste never womman han the care,  
Ne was so looth out of a toun to fare.

This Troilus, with-outen reed or lore,
As man that hath his Ioyes eek forlore,
Was waytinge on his lady ever-more
As she that was the soothfast crop and more  
Of al his lust, or Ioyes here-tofore.
But Troilus, now farewel al thy Ioye,
For shaltow never seen hir eft in Troye!

Soth is, that whyl he bood in this manere,
He gan his wo ful manly for to hyde.  
That wel unnethe it seen was in his chere;
But at the yate ther she sholde oute ryde
With certeyn folk, he hoved hir tabyde,
So wo bigoon, al wolde he nought him pleyne,
That on his hors unnethe he sat for peyne.  

For ire he quook, so gan his herte gnawe,
Whan Diomede on horse gan him dresse,
And seyde un-to him-self this ilke sawe,
'Allas,' quod he, 'thus foul a wrecchednesse
Why suffre ich it, why nil ich it redresse?  
Were it not bet at ones for to dye
Than ever-more in langour thus to drye?

'Why nil I make at ones riche and pore
To have y-nough to done, er that she go?
Why nil I bringe al Troye upon a rore?  
Why nil I sleen this Diomede also?
Why nil I rather with a man or two
Stele hir a-way? Why wol I this endure?
Why nil I helpen to myn owene cure?'

But why he nolde doon so fel a dede,  
That shal I seyn, and why him liste it spare;
He hadde in herte alweyes a maner drede,
Lest that Criseyde, in rumour of this fare,
Sholde han ben slayn; lo, this was al his care.
And ellis, certeyn, as I seyde yore,  
He hadde it doon, with-outen wordes more.

Criseyde, whan she redy was to ryde,
Ful sorwfully she sighte, and seyde 'Allas!'
But forth she moot, for ought that may bityde,
And forth she rit ful sorwfully a pas.  
Ther nis non other remedie in this cas.
What wonder is though that hir sore smerte,
Whan she forgoth hir owene swete herte?

This Troilus, in wyse of curteisye,
With hauke on hond, and with an huge route  
Of knightes, rood and dide hir companye,
Passinge al the valey fer with-oute,
And ferther wolde han riden, out of doute,
Ful fayn, and wo was him to goon so sone;
But torne he moste, and it was eek to done.  

And right with that was Antenor y-come
Out of the Grekes ost, and every wight
Was of it glad, and seyde he was wel-come.
And Troilus, al nere his herte light,
He peyned him with al his fulle might  
Him to with-holde of wepinge at the leste,
And Antenor he kiste, and made feste.

And ther-with-al he moste his leve take,
And caste his eye upon hir pitously,
And neer he rood, his cause for to make,  
To take hir by the honde al sobrely.
And lord! So she gan wepen tendrely!
And he ful softe and sleighly gan hir seye,
'Now hold your day, and dooth me not to deye.'

With that his courser torned he a-boute  
With face pale, and un-to Diomede
No word he spak, ne noon of al his route;
Of which the sone of Tydeus took hede,
As he that coude more than the crede
In swich a craft, and by the reyne hir hente;  
And Troilus to Troye homwarde he wente.

This Diomede, that ladde hir by the brydel,
Whan that he saw the folk of Troye aweye,
Thoughte, 'Al my labour shal not been on ydel,
If that I may, for somwhat shal I seye,  
For at the worste it may yet shorte our weye.
I have herd seyd, eek tymes twyes twelve,
"He is a fool that wol for-yete him-selve."'

But natheles this thoughte he wel ynough,
'That certaynly I am aboute nought,  
If that I speke of love, or make it tough;
For douteles, if she have in hir thought
Him that I gesse, he may not been y-brought
So sone awey; but I shal finde a mene,
That she not wite as yet shal what I mene.'  

This Diomede, as he that coude his good,
Whan this was doon, gan fallen forth in speche
Of this and that, and asked why she stood
In swich disese, and gan hir eek biseche,
That if that he encrese mighte or eche  
With any thing hir ese, that she sholde
Comaunde it him, and seyde he doon it wolde.

For trewely he swoor hir, as a knight,
That ther nas thing with whiche he mighte hir plese,
That he nolde doon his peyne and al his might  
To doon it, for to doon hir herte an ese.
And preyede hir, she wolde hir sorwe apese,
And seyde, 'Y-wis, we Grekes con have Ioye
To honouren yow, as wel as folk of Troye.'

He seyde eek thus, 'I woot, yow thinketh straunge,  
No wonder is, for it is to yow newe,
Thaqueintaunce of these Troianis to chaunge,
For folk of Grece, that ye never knewe.
But wolde never god but-if as trewe
A Greek ye shulde among us alle finde  
As any Troian is, and eek as kinde.

'And by the cause I swoor yow right, lo, now,
To been your freend, and helply, to my might,
And for that more aqueintaunce eek of yow
Have ich had than another straunger wight,  
So fro this forth, I pray yow, day and night,
Comaundeth me, how sore that me smerte,
To doon al that may lyke un-to your herte;

'And that ye me wolde as your brother trete,
And taketh not my frendship in despyt;  
And though your sorwes be for thinges grete,
Noot I not why, but out of more respyt,
Myn herte hath for to amende it greet delyt.
And if I may your harmes not redresse,
I am right sory for your hevinesse,  

'And though ye Troians with us Grekes wrothe
Han many a day be, alwey yet, pardee,
O god of love in sooth we serven bothe.
And, for the love of god, my lady free,
Whom so ye hate, as beth not wroth with me.  
For trewely, ther can no wight yow serve,
That half so looth your wraththe wolde deserve.

'And nere it that we been so neigh the tente
Of Calkas, which that seen us bothe may,
I wolde of this yow telle al myn entente;  
But this enseled til another day.
Yeve me your hond, I am, and shal ben ay,
God help me so, whyl that my lyf may dure,
Your owene aboven every creature.

'Thus seyde I never er now to womman born;  
For god myn herte as wisly glade so,
I lovede never womman here-biforn
As paramours, ne never shal no mo.
And, for the love of god, beth not my fo;
Al can I not to yow, my lady dere,  
Compleyne aright, for I am yet to lere.

'And wondreth not, myn owene lady bright,
Though that I speke of love to you thus blyve;
For I have herd or this of many a wight,
Hath loved thing he never saugh his lyve.  
Eek I am not of power for to stryve
Ayens the god of love, but him obeye
I wol alwey, and mercy I yow preye.

'Ther been so worthy knightes in this place,
And ye so fair, that everich of hem alle  
Wol peynen him to stonden in your grace.
But mighte me so fair a grace falle,
That ye me for your servaunt wolde calle,
So lowly ne so trewely you serve
Nil noon of hem, as I shal, til I sterve.'  

Criseide un-to that purpos lyte answerde,
As she that was with sorwe oppressed so
That, in effect, she nought his tales herde,
But here and there, now here a word or two.
Hir thoughte hir sorwful herte brast a-two.  
For whan she gan hir fader fer aspye,
Wel neigh doun of hir hors she gan to sye.

But natheles she thonked Diomede
Of al his travaile, and his goode chere,
And that him liste his friendship hir to bede;  
And she accepteth it in good manere,
And wolde do fayn that is him leef and dere;
And trusten him she wolde, and wel she mighte,
As seyde she, and from hir hors she alighte.

Hir fader hath hir in his armes nome,  
And tweynty tyme he kiste his doughter swete,
And seyde, 'O dere doughter myn, wel-come!'
She seyde eek, she was fayn with him to mete,
And stood forth mewet, milde, and mansuete.
But here I leve hir with hir fader dwelle,  
And forth I wol of Troilus yow telle.

To Troye is come this woful Troilus,
In sorwe aboven alle sorwes smerte,
With felon look, and face dispitous.
Tho sodeinly doun from his hors he sterte,  
And thorugh his paleys, with a swollen herte,
To chambre he wente; of no-thing took he hede,
Ne noon to him dar speke a word for drede.

And there his sorwes that he spared hadde
He yaf an issue large, and 'Deeth!' he cryde;  
And in his throwes frenetyk and madde
He cursed Iove, Appollo, and eek Cupyde,
He cursed Ceres, Bacus, and Cipryde,
His burthe, him-self, his fate, and eek nature,
And, save his lady, every creature.  

To bedde he goth, and weyleth there and torneth
In furie, as dooth he, Ixion in helle;
And in this wyse he neigh til day soiorneth.
But tho bigan his herte a lyte unswelle
Thorugh teres which that gonnen up to welle;  
And pitously he cryde up-on Criseyde,
And to him-self right thus he spak, and seyde: --

'Wher is myn owene lady lief and dere,
Wher is hir whyte brest, wher is it, where?
Wher ben hir armes and hir eyen clere,  
That yesternight this tyme with me were?
Now may I wepe allone many a tere,
And graspe aboute I may, but in this place,
Save a pilowe, I finde nought tenbrace.

'How shal I do? Whan shal she com ayeyn?  
I noot, allas! Why leet ich hir to go?
As wolde god, ich hadde as tho be sleyn!
O herte myn, Criseyde, O swete fo!
O lady myn, that I love and no mo!
To whom for ever-mo myn herte I dowe;  
See how I deye, ye nil me not rescowe!

'Who seeth yow now, my righte lode-sterre?
Who sit right now or stant in your presence?
Who can conforten now your hertes werre?
Now I am gon, whom yeve ye audience?  
Who speketh for me right now in myn absence?
Allas, no wight; and that is al my care;
For wel wot I, as yvel as I ye fare.

'How sholde I thus ten dayes ful endure,
Whan I the firste night have al this tene?  
How shal she doon eek, sorwful creature?
For tendernesse, how shal she this sustene,
Swich wo for me? O pitous, pale, and grene
Shal been your fresshe wommanliche face
For langour, er ye torne un-to this place.'  

And whan he fil in any slomeringes,
Anoon biginne he sholde for to grone,
And dremen of the dredfulleste thinges
That mighte been; as, mete he were allone
In place horrible, makinge ay his mone,  
Or meten that he was amonges alle
His enemys, and in hir hondes falle.

And ther-with-al his body sholde sterte,
And with the stert al sodeinliche awake,
And swich a tremour fele aboute his herte,  
That of the feer his body sholde quake;
And there-with-al he sholde a noyse make,
And seme as though he sholde falle depe
From heighe a-lofte; and than he wolde wepe,

And rewen on him-self so pitously,  
That wonder was to here his fantasye.
Another tyme he sholde mightily
Conforte him-self, and seyn it was folye,
So causeles swich drede for to drye,
And eft biginne his aspre sorwes newe,  
That every man mighte on his sorwes rewe.

Who coude telle aright or ful discryve
His wo, his pleynt, his langour, and his pyne?
Nought al the men that han or been on-lyve.
Thou, redere, mayst thy-self ful wel devyne  
That swich a wo my wit can not defyne.
On ydel for to wryte it sholde I swinke,
Whan that my wit is wery it to thinke.

On hevene yet the sterres were sene,
Al-though ful pale y-waxen was the mone;  
And whyten gan the orisonte shene
Al estward, as it woned is for to done.
And Phebus with his rosy carte sone
Gan after that to dresse him up to fare,
Whan Troilus hath sent after Pandare.  

This Pandare, that of al the day biforn
Ne mighte han comen Troilus to see,
Al-though he on his heed it hadde y-sworn,
For with the king Pryam alday was he,
So that it lay not in his libertee  
No-wher to gon, but on the morwe he wente
To Troilus, whan that he for him sente.

For in his herte he coude wel devyne,
That Troilus al night for sorwe wook;
And that he wolde telle him of his pyne,  
This knew he wel y-nough, with-oute book.
For which to chaumbre streight the wey he took,
And Troilus tho sobreliche he grette,
And on the bed ful sone he gan him sette.

'My Pandarus,' quod Troilus, 'the sorwe  
Which that I drye, I may not longe endure.
I trowe I shal not liven til to-morwe;
For whiche I wolde alwey, on aventure,
To thee devysen of my sepulture
The forme, and of my moeble thou dispone  
Right as thee semeth best is for to done.

'But of the fyr and flaumbe funeral
In whiche my body brenne shal to glede,
And of the feste and pleyes palestral
At my vigile, I prey thee tak good hede  
That be wel; and offre Mars my stede,
My swerd, myn helm, and, leve brother dere,
My sheld to Pallas yef, that shyneth clere.

'The poudre in which myn herte y-brend shal torne,
That preye I thee thou take and it conserve  
In a vessel, that men clepeth an urne,
Of gold, and to my lady that I serve,
For love of whom thus pitously I sterve,
So yeve it hir, and do me this plesaunce,
To preye hir kepe it for a remembraunce.  

'For wel I fele, by my maladye,
And by my dremes now and yore ago,
Al certeinly, that I mot nedes dye.
The owle eek, which that hight Ascaphilo,
Hath after me shright alle thise nightes two.  
And, god Mercurie! Of me now, woful wrecche,
The soule gyde, and, whan thee list, it fecche!'

Pandare answerde, and seyde, 'Troilus,
My dere freend, as I have told thee yore,
That it is folye for to sorwen thus,  
And causeles, for whiche I can no-more.
But who-so wol not trowen reed ne lore,
I can not seen in him no remedye,
But lete him worthen with his fantasye.

'But Troilus, I pray thee tel me now,  
If that thou trowe, er this, that any wight
Hath loved paramours as wel as thou?
Ye, god wot, and fro many a worthy knight
Hath his lady goon a fourtenight,
And he not yet made halvendel the fare.  
What nede is thee to maken al this care?

'Sin day by day thou mayst thy-selven see
That from his love, or elles from his wyf,
A man mot twinnen of necessitee,
Ye, though he love hir as his owene lyf;  
Yet nil he with him-self thus maken stryf.
For wel thow wost, my leve brother dere,
That alwey freendes may nought been y-fere.

'How doon this folk that seen hir loves wedded
By freendes might, as it bi-*** ful ofte,  
And seen hem in hir spouses bed y-bedded?
God woot, they take it wysly, faire and softe.
For-why good hope halt up hir herte on-lofte,
And for they can a tyme of sorwe endure;
As tyme hem hurt, a tyme doth hem cure.  

'So sholdestow endure, and late slyde
The tyme, and fonde to ben glad and light.
Ten dayes nis so longe not tabyde.
And sin she thee to comen hath bihight,
She nil hir hestes breken for no wight.  
For dred thee not that she nil finden weye
To come ayein, my lyf that dorste I leye.

'Thy swevenes eek and al swich fantasye
Dryf out, and lat hem faren to mischaunce;
For they procede of thy malencolye,  
That doth thee fele in sleep al this penaunce.
A straw for alle swevenes signifiaunce!
God helpe me so, I counte hem not a bene,
Ther woot no man aright what dremes mene.

'For prestes of the temple tellen this,  
That dremes been the revelaciouns
Of goddes, and as wel they telle, y-wis,
That they ben infernals illusiouns;
And leches seyn, that of complexiouns
Proceden they, or fast, or glotonye.  
Who woot in sooth thus what they signifye?

'Eek othere seyn that thorugh impressiouns,
As if a wight hath faste a thing in minde,
That ther-of cometh swiche avisiouns;
And othere seyn, as they in bokes finde,  
That, after tymes of the yeer by kinde,
Men dreme, and that theffect goth by the mone;
But leve no dreem, for it is nought to done.

'Wel worth o

WHEN that Aprilis, with his showers swoot,                       *sweet
The drought of March hath pierced to the root,
And bathed every vein in such licour,
Of which virtue engender'd is the flower;
When Zephyrus eke with his swoote breath
Inspired hath in every holt and heath                    grove, forest
The tender croppes and the younge sun                    twigs, boughs
Hath in the Ram  his halfe course y-run,
And smalle fowles make melody,
That sleepen all the night with open eye,
(So pricketh them nature in their corages);       hearts, inclinations
Then longe folk to go on pilgrimages,
And palmers  for to seeke strange strands,
To *ferne hallows couth  in sundry lands;     distant saints known
And specially, from every shire's end
Of Engleland, to Canterbury they wend,
The holy blissful Martyr for to seek,
That them hath holpen, when that they were sick.                helped

Befell that, in that season on a day,
In Southwark at the Tabard  as I lay,
Ready to wenden on my pilgrimage
To Canterbury with devout corage,
At night was come into that hostelry
Well nine and twenty in a company
Of sundry folk, by aventure y-fall            who had by chance fallen
In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all,           into company.
That toward Canterbury woulde ride.
The chamber, and the stables were wide,
And well we weren eased at the best.            we were well provided
And shortly, when the sunne was to rest,                  with the best
So had I spoken with them every one,
That I was of their fellowship anon,
And made forword* early for to rise,                            promise
To take our way there as I you devise.                describe, relate

But natheless, while I have time and space,
Ere that I farther in this tale pace,
Me thinketh it accordant to reason,
To tell you alle the condition
Of each of them, so as it seemed me,
And which they weren, and of what degree;
And eke in what array that they were in:
And at a Knight then will I first begin.

A KNIGHT there was, and that a worthy man,
That from the time that he first began
To riden out, he loved chivalry,
Truth and honour, freedom and courtesy.
Full worthy was he in his Lorde's war,
And thereto had he ridden, no man farre,                       farther
As well in Christendom as in Heatheness,
And ever honour'd for his worthiness
At Alisandre  he was when it was won.
Full often time he had the board begun
Above alle nations in Prusse.
In Lettowe had he reysed, and in Russe,                      journeyed
No Christian man so oft of his degree.
In Grenade at the siege eke had he be
Of Algesir, and ridden in Belmarie.
At Leyes was he, and at Satalie,
When they were won; and in the Greate Sea
At many a noble army had he be.
At mortal battles had he been fifteen,
And foughten for our faith at Tramissene.
In listes thries, and aye slain his foe.
This ilke worthy knight had been also                         same
Some time with the lord of Palatie,
Against another heathen in Turkie:
And evermore *he had a sovereign price.            He was held in very
And though that he was worthy he was wise,                 high esteem.
And of his port as meek as is a maid.
He never yet no villainy ne said
In all his life, unto no manner wight.
He was a very perfect gentle knight.
But for to telle you of his array,
His horse was good, but yet he was not gay.
Of fustian he weared a gipon,                            short doublet
Alle besmotter'd with his habergeon,     soiled by his coat of mail.
For he was late y-come from his voyage,
And wente for to do his pilgrimage.

With him there was his son, a younge SQUIRE,
A lover, and a ***** bacheler,
With lockes crulle* as they were laid in press.                  curled
Of twenty year of age he was I guess.
Of his stature he was of even length,
And *wonderly deliver, and great of strength.      wonderfully nimble
And he had been some time in chevachie,                  cavalry raids
In Flanders, in Artois, and Picardie,
And borne him well, as of so little space,      in such a short time
In hope to standen in his lady's grace.
Embroider'd was he, as it were a mead
All full of freshe flowers, white and red.
Singing he was, or fluting all the day;
He was as fresh as is the month of May.
Short was his gown, with sleeves long and wide.
Well could he sit on horse, and faire ride.
He coulde songes make, and well indite,
Joust, and eke dance, and well pourtray and write.
So hot he loved, that by nightertale                        night-time
He slept no more than doth the nightingale.
Courteous he was, lowly, and serviceable,
And carv'd before his father at the table.

A YEOMAN had he, and servants no mo'
At that time, for him list ride so         it pleased him so to ride
And he was clad in coat and hood of green.
A sheaf of peacock arrows bright and keen
Under his belt he bare full thriftily.
Well could he dress his tackle yeomanly:
His arrows drooped not with feathers low;
And in his hand he bare a mighty bow.
A nut-head  had he, with a brown visiage:
Of wood-craft coud* he well all the usage:                         knew
Upon his arm he bare a gay bracer,                        small shield
And by his side a sword and a buckler,
And on that other side a gay daggere,
Harnessed well, and sharp as point of spear:
A Christopher on his breast of silver sheen.
An horn he bare, the baldric was of green:
A forester was he soothly as I guess.                        certainly

There was also a Nun, a PRIORESS,
That of her smiling was full simple and coy;
Her greatest oathe was but by Saint Loy;
And she was cleped  Madame Eglentine.                           called
Full well she sang the service divine,
Entuned in her nose full seemly;
And French she spake full fair and fetisly                    properly
After the school of Stratford atte Bow,
For French of Paris was to her unknow.
At meate was she well y-taught withal;
She let no morsel from her lippes fall,
Nor wet her fingers in her sauce deep.
Well could she carry a morsel, and well keep,
That no droppe ne fell upon her breast.
In courtesy was set full much her lest.                       pleasure
Her over-lippe wiped she so clean,
That in her cup there was no farthing seen                       speck
Of grease, when she drunken had her draught;
Full seemely after her meat she raught:           reached out her hand
And *sickerly she was of great disport,     surely she was of a lively
And full pleasant, and amiable of port,                     disposition
And pained her to counterfeite cheer              took pains to assume
Of court,* and be estately of mannere,            a courtly disposition
And to be holden digne of reverence.                            worthy
But for to speaken of her conscience,
She was so charitable and so pitous,                      full of pity
She woulde weep if that she saw a mouse
Caught in a trap, if it were dead or bled.
Of smalle houndes had she, that she fed
With roasted flesh, and milk, and *wastel bread.   finest white bread
But sore she wept if one of them were dead,
Or if men smote it with a yarde* smart:                           staff
And all was conscience and tender heart.
Full seemly her wimple y-pinched was;
Her nose tretis; her eyen gray as glass;               well-formed
Her mouth full small, and thereto soft and red;
But sickerly she had a fair forehead.
It was almost a spanne broad I trow;
For *hardily she was not undergrow.       certainly she was not small
Full fetis* was her cloak, as I was ware.                          neat
Of small coral about her arm she bare
A pair of beades, gauded all with green;
And thereon hung a brooch of gold full sheen,
On which was first y-written a crown'd A,
And after, *Amor vincit omnia.                      love conquers all
Another Nun also with her had she,
[That was her chapelleine, and PRIESTES three.]

A MONK there was, a fair for the mast'ry,       above all others
An out-rider, that loved venery;                               *hunting
A manly man, to be an abbot able.
Full many a dainty horse had he in stable:
And when he rode, men might his bridle hear
Jingeling  in a whistling wind as clear,
And eke as loud, as doth the chapel bell,
There as this lord was keeper of the cell.
The rule of Saint Maur and of Saint Benet,
Because that it was old and somedeal strait
This ilke monk let olde thinges pace,                             same
And held after the newe world the trace.
He *gave not of the text a pulled hen,                he cared nothing
That saith, that hunters be not holy men:                  for the text
Ne that a monk, when he is cloisterless;
Is like to a fish that is waterless;
This is to say, a monk out of his cloister.
This ilke text held he not worth an oyster;
And I say his opinion was good.
Why should he study, and make himselfe wood                   *mad
Upon a book in cloister always pore,
Or swinken with his handes, and labour,                           toil
As Austin bid? how shall the world be served?
Let Austin have his swink to him reserved.
Therefore he was a prickasour aright:                       hard rider
Greyhounds he had as swift as fowl of flight;
Of pricking and of hunting for the hare                         riding
Was all his lust, for no cost would he spare.                 pleasure
I saw his sleeves *purfil'd at the hand       *worked at the end with a
With gris, and that the finest of the land.          fur called "gris"
And for to fasten his hood under his chin,
He had of gold y-wrought a curious pin;
A love-knot in the greater end there was.
His head was bald, and shone as any glass,
And eke his face, as it had been anoint;
He was a lord full fat and in good point;
His eyen steep, and rolling in his head,                      deep-set
That steamed as a furnace of a lead.
His bootes supple, his horse in great estate,
Now certainly he was a fair prelate;
He was not pale as a forpined ghost;                            wasted
A fat swan lov'd he best of any roast.
His palfrey was as brown as is a berry.

A FRIAR there was, a wanton and a merry,
A limitour , a full solemne man.
In all the orders four is none that can                          knows
So much of dalliance and fair language.
He had y-made full many a marriage
Of younge women, at his owen cost.
Unto his order he was a noble post;
Full well belov'd, and familiar was he
With franklins *over all in his country,                   everywhere
And eke with worthy women of the town:
For he had power of confession,
As said himselfe, more than a curate,
For of his order he was licentiate.
Full sweetely heard he confession,
And pleasant was his absolution.
He was an easy man to give penance,
There as he wist to have a good pittance:      *where he know

THE PROLOGUE. 1

Experience, though none authority                  authoritative texts
Were in this world, is right enough for me
To speak of woe that is in marriage:
For, lordings, since I twelve year was of age,
(Thanked be God that is etern on live),              lives eternally
Husbands at the church door have I had five,2
For I so often have y-wedded be,
And all were worthy men in their degree.
But me was told, not longe time gone is
That sithen* Christe went never but ones                          since
To wedding, in the Cane of Galilee,                               Cana
That by that ilk example taught he me,                            same
That I not wedded shoulde be but once.
Lo, hearken eke a sharp word for the *****,                   occasion
Beside a welle Jesus, God and man,
Spake in reproof of the Samaritan:
"Thou hast y-had five husbandes," said he;
"And thilke man, that now hath wedded thee,                       that
Is not thine husband:" 3 thus said he certain;
What that he meant thereby, I cannot sayn.
But that I aske, why the fifthe man
Was not husband to the Samaritan?
How many might she have in marriage?
Yet heard I never tellen *in mine age                      in my life
Upon this number definitioun.
Men may divine, and glosen* up and down;                        comment
But well I wot, express without a lie,
God bade us for to wax and multiply;
That gentle text can I well understand.
Eke well I wot, he said, that mine husband
Should leave father and mother, and take to me;
But of no number mention made he,
Of bigamy or of octogamy;
Why then should men speak of it villainy?     as if it were a disgrace

Lo here, the wise king Dan Solomon,                           Lord 4
I trow that he had wives more than one;
As would to God it lawful were to me
To be refreshed half so oft as he!
What gift of God had he for all his wives?     special favour, licence
No man hath such, that in this world alive is.
God wot, this noble king, *as to my wit,              as I understand
The first night had many a merry fit
With each of them, so well was him on live.         so well he lived
Blessed be God that I have wedded five!
Welcome the sixth whenever that he shall.
For since I will not keep me chaste in all,
When mine husband is from the world y-gone,
Some Christian man shall wedde me anon.
For then th' apostle saith that I am free
To wed, a' God's half, where it liketh me.             on God's part
He saith, that to be wedded is no sin;
Better is to be wedded than to brin.                              burn
What recketh* me though folk say villainy                 care *evil
Of shrewed* Lamech, and his bigamy?                     impious, wicked
I wot well Abraham was a holy man,
And Jacob eke, as far as ev'r I can.                              know
And each of them had wives more than two;
And many another holy man also.
Where can ye see, *in any manner age,                   in any period
That highe God defended* marriage                           forbade 5
By word express? I pray you tell it me;
Or where commanded he virginity?
I wot as well as you, it is no dread,                            doubt
Th' apostle, when he spake of maidenhead,
He said, that precept thereof had he none:
Men may counsel a woman to be one,                              a maid
But counseling is no commandement;
He put it in our owen judgement.
For, hadde God commanded maidenhead,
Then had he ****** wedding out of dread;           condemned *doubt
And certes, if there were no seed y-sow,                          sown
Virginity then whereof should it grow?
Paul durste not commanden, at the least,
A thing of which his Master gave no hest.                      command
The dart* is set up for virginity;                             goal 6
Catch whoso may, who runneth best let see.
But this word is not ta'en of every wight,
But there as* God will give it of his might.             except where
I wot well that th' apostle was a maid,
But natheless, although he wrote and said,
He would that every wight were such as he,
All is but counsel to virginity.
And, since to be a wife he gave me leave
Of indulgence, so is it no repreve                   *scandal, reproach
To wedde me, if that my make should die,                 mate, husband
Without exception of bigamy;                          charge, reproach
All were it* good no woman for to touch            though it might be
(He meant as in his bed or in his couch),
For peril is both fire and tow t'assemble
Ye know what this example may resemble.
This is all and some, he held virginity
More profit than wedding in frailty:
(Frailty clepe I, but if that he and she           frailty I call it,
Would lead their lives all in chastity),                         unless
I grant it well, I have of none envy
Who maidenhead prefer to bigamy;
It liketh them t' be clean in body and ghost;                     *soul
Of mine estate I will not make a boast.                      condition

For, well ye know, a lord in his household
Hath not every vessel all of gold; 7
Some are of tree, and do their lord service.
God calleth folk to him in sundry wise,
And each one hath of God a proper gift,
Some this, some that, as liketh him to shift.      appoint, distribute
Virginity is great perfection,
And continence eke with devotion:
But Christ, that of perfection is the well,                   fountain
Bade not every wight he should go sell
All that he had, and give it to the poor,
And in such wise follow him and his lore:                     doctrine
He spake to them that would live perfectly, --
And, lordings, by your leave, that am not I;
I will bestow the flower of mine age
In th' acts and in the fruits of marriage.
Tell me also, to what conclusion                          end, purpose
Were members made of generation,
And of so perfect wise a wight y-wrought?                        being
Trust me right well, they were not made for nought.
Glose whoso will, and say both up and down,
That they were made for the purgatioun
Of *****, and of other thinges smale,
And eke to know a female from a male:
And for none other cause? say ye no?
Experience wot well it is not so.
So that the clerkes be not with me wroth,                     scholars
I say this, that they were made for both,
That is to say, *for office, and for ease                 for duty and
Of engendrure, there we God not displease.                 for pleasure
Why should men elles in their bookes set,
That man shall yield unto his wife her debt?
Now wherewith should he make his payement,
If he us'd not his silly instrument?
Then were they made upon a creature
To purge *****, and eke for engendrure.
But I say not that every wight is hold,                        obliged
That hath such harness* as I to you told,                     equipment
To go and use them in engendrure;
Then should men take of chastity no cure.                         care
Christ was a maid, and shapen as a man,                      fashioned
And many a saint, since that this world began,
Yet ever liv'd in perfect chastity.
I will not vie with no virginity.                              contend
Let them with bread of pured wheat be fed,                    purified
And let us wives eat our barley bread.
And yet with barley bread, Mark tell us can,8
Our Lord Jesus refreshed many a man.
In such estate as God hath *cleped us,                    called us to
I'll persevere, I am not precious,                         over-dainty
In wifehood I will use mine instrument
As freely as my Maker hath it sent.
If I be dangerous God give me sorrow;            sparing of my favours
Mine husband shall it have, both eve and morrow,
When that him list come forth and pay his debt.
A husband will I have, I *will no let,         will bear no hindrance
Which shall be both my debtor and my thrall,                     *slave
And have his tribulation withal
Upon his flesh, while that I am his wife.
I have the power during all my life
Upon his proper body, and not he;
Right thus th' apostle told it unto me,
And bade our husbands for to love us well;
All this sentence me liketh every deal.                           whit

Up start the Pardoner, and that anon;
"Now, Dame," quoth he, "by God and by Saint John,
Ye are a noble preacher in this case.
I was about to wed a wife, alas!
What? should I bie it on my flesh so dear?                  suffer for
Yet had I lever wed no wife this year."                         rather
"Abide," quoth she; "my tale is not begun             wait in patience
Nay, thou shalt drinken of another tun
Ere that I go, shall savour worse than ale.
And when that I have told thee forth my tale
Of tribulation in marriage,
Of which I am expert in all mine age,
(This is to say, myself hath been the whip),
Then mayest thou choose whether thou wilt sip
Of *thilke tunne, that I now shall broach.                   that tun
Beware of it, ere thou too nigh approach,
For I shall tell examples more than ten:
Whoso will not beware by other men,
By him shall other men corrected be:
These same wordes writeth Ptolemy;
Read in his Almagest, and take it there."
"Dame, I would pray you, if your will it were,"
Saide this Pardoner, "as ye began,
Tell forth your tale, and spare for no man,
And teach us younge men of your practique."
"Gladly," quoth she, "since that it may you like.
But that I pray to all this company,
If that I speak after my fantasy,
To take nought agrief* what I may say;                         to heart
For mine intent is only for to play.

Now, Sirs, then will I tell you forth my tale.
As ever may I drinke wine or ale
I shall say sooth; the husbands that I had
Three of them were good, and two were bad
The three were goode men, and rich, and old
Unnethes mighte they the statute hold      they could with difficulty
In which that they were bounden unto me.                   obey the law
Yet wot well what I mean of this, pardie.                       *by God
As God me help, I laugh when tha

Na escuridão da noite procuro-te mas só, encontro o vazio frio da solidão, porque estás em outro lugar… longe de mim.

In praise of Eliza, Queen of the Shepherds


See where she sits upon the grassie greene,
        (O seemely sight!)
Yclad in Scarlot, like a mayden Queene,
        And ermines white:
Upon her head a Cremosin coronet
With Damaske roses and Daffadillies set:
        Bay leaves betweene,
        And primroses greene,
Embellish the sweete Violet.

Tell me, have ye seene her angelick face
        Like Phoebe fayre?
Her heavenly haveour, her princely grace,
        Can you well compare?
The Redde rose medled with the White yfere,
In either cheeke depeincten lively chere:
        Her modest eye,
        Her Majestie,
Where have you seene the like but there?

I see Calliope speede her to the place,
        Where my Goddesse shines;
And after her the other Muses trace
        With their Violines.
Bene they not Bay braunches which they do beare,
All for Elisa in her hand to weare?
        So sweetely they play,
        And sing all the way,
That it a heaven is to heare.

Lo, how finely the Graces can it foote
        To the Instrument:
They dauncen deffly, and singen soote,
        In their meriment.
Wants not a fourth Grace to make the daunce even?
Let that rowme to my Lady be yeven.
        She shal be a Grace,
        To fyll the fourth place,
And reigne with the rest in heaven.

Bring hether the Pincke and purple Cullambine,
        With Gelliflowres;
Bring Coronations, and Sops-in-wine
        Worne of Paramoures:
Strowe me the ground with Daffadowndillies,
And Cowslips, and Kingcups, and lovèd Lillies:
        The pretie Pawnce,
        And the Chevisaunce,
Shall match with the fayre flowre Delice.

Now ryse up, Elisa, deckèd as thou art
        In royall aray;
And now ye daintie Damsells may depart
        Eche one her way.
I feare I have troubled your troupes to longe:
Let dame Elisa thanke you for her song:
        And if you come hether
        When Damsines I gether,
I will part them all you among.

A caída do tempo esmera-se no cuidado
Sonho que em câmara lenta a minha alma não se magoa
e a mágoa não se torna superior à vontade de viver
Por fim, desisto
Não acredito mais nas palavras que digo
Não tenho já certeza se vivo a sonhar
Ou se simplesmente gosto de me arrastar por entre a multidão
A sorrir, a mentir
Disseram-me um dia que partiria, sim
Mas que sozinha não iria a nenhures
Verdade
Tenho uma constante obsessão amarrada à perna
E cada passo que dou sinto a tonelada desse vazio
E os dois metro que ando entre o chão e o chão
São quilómetros na vida real
Que irreal 'e
Sinto a pedras na descida, mas não me magoam
São menos duras que a armadura que me venderam
E pregada esta já ao corpo está
Nada sinto
Nada quero sentir
Apenas jazo no poder do iniquo
Que diz-se Mundo
Que digo Inferno
O amor que tenho por vos faz-me ir devagar
Mas a raiva que sinto do estrume que sois
Apressa-me na descida
Sinto que equivocada estou com o Mundo que não me quer
E sei que ao rápido descer, rápido vou saber
Onde o futuro me leva
Me carrega
O medo que tenho de me trazer ao inicio do Tempo 'e muito
Mas o pavor de so nascer uma vez corroí-me os tímpanos.
Partem todos os que amo e vejo-os ao longe
Imagino se perto estivessem
Não conseguiria respirar o pouco ar que tenho
E se choro e agonizo
'e por este amor que me queria grande e forte
Mas que fraca me pôs no chão
Não julgarei ninguém ao querer cair
A paisagem 'e bonita e ao longe desfocada fica
Sentimos a analgesia de não se ser ninguém
Vem devagar, não me apresses o timbre
Afinal acredito em mim, acho que sempre acreditei
Apenas estava apagada na tua sombra
Que em cativeiro me deixava a alma
Amei-te como o Amor sente
Amo-te como a dor ama
E embora me empurres para baixo da ribanceira
Sorrio e minto
Para te ver feliz em cima da minha cabeça
Como sempre estiveste
Como sempre te deixei estar.

Geografia I
Quando a Vila Jaiara era do mundo
O centro vital; se mais longe houvesse,
Lá chegara, aos saltos, de susto tomado
Em mim mesmo; silente rezava o missal.
Corria pelos campos – a savana, cerrado.

O medo do sistema heliocêntrico
Ainda não perdera: o medo de ser
Só. Eu vivia com meus irmãos e irmãs –
Éramos uma centena de bichinhos
Em torno de nossa mãe adotada,
A quem chamávamos de Senhora.
E em torno dela, tudo girava, girava...

Os grandes mandavam-nos, sorrateiros,
Andar pelo cerrado em busca de tudo:
Gabirobas, cajuzinhos, goiabas ...

Na Vila Jaiara havia tanta coisa mais.
A casa de Helena; de deuses onde doces.
Que à caminhada tornava clara para nós.
Centro luminoso em que a ceia do Senhor.

Não havia São Paulo ou Rio de Janeiro –
No máximo: Belo Horizonte, Araxá
Povoavam nossos sonhos.
E talvez Ouro Preto e Divinópolis –
Onde Dora reinava...
- Goiânia, São Petersburgo e Tegucigalpa – só no Atlas.

Anápolis era outra estória: a cidade, o comércio longe demais...
Ali na Jaiara estava o centro de tudo
e no centro de tudo o amor:
Laíde Epifânia me nomeara “Maninho”.

Naquele tempo, na nossa vila, não passava um rio.
Mas havia a fábrica de tecidos, onde Jorge –
Noivo de minha irmã – tecia a união e afeto
E me ensinava a andar de bicicleta.

Do Vietnã,  só soube no ginásio.
./.

Brown Brown brown
A majestic salute
Of this **** on bone
Into my mouth
Irreverent despise
This effigious moment
Of makes my surmise
Of this meat from this plate
Surety tu sate
It's Satan's will
In deep do I swill
Of all the kingdom's fawn
Fauna's adorn
Adorn ornate
From the midth of my plate
Into my bellies belie
Belittle my sweet tooth
From tooth suit sooth
The feel of my carnivorous desire
And it's encroach
To ****** from the animal kingdom
A bane or benign male
Or of femality
A skinned creature or scaled
Once skinned then scaled
To the nth of my teeth
From it's evolutionary course
To my 'mmms' whence eat
"I farm therefore I am"
My requite
My requiem
It's internment within my duodenum
If we as homosapien
We're a little lower
Of the evolutionary ladder
A little closer
To the whipchuk and adder
Perhaps this incongruity
Would seem of insurmount
That we would not take from the platter
Of that skitter skatter
Of paws and of hoof
Of feather and of scale
For it not our right
To interrupt the plight
Of species cultural agare
And of universal development
Of ******* disposition
And it's extant
Perhaps we'd be more likely
To drop a tear
Than a longe long of langue
A salivating spittle
Like the whistle and the sizzle
Of that press upon the plate
Of heated black iron
The steam and the vapour
Testament to the savour
To the saviour of the meal
As any connoisseur can tell you
Unless they alien to meat
The saviour of the meal
That muscular tender form
That reared from the twinkle
To the wink
The seed met it's drink
The phoetus
To the expressed
******* delight
This formling's fledgling plight
As it's eyes burn to new light
Of its heart and marrow and sinew
All fodder to our ensue
Of it's marriage to this world
Now married to our plate
Its existence to sate
Our sensory intuition
And if questioned
The lesser the tuition
Of salt and fat to the sate
Of blood and metal to the taste
Of bone and cartilage the waste
Unless hungry enough to chew
And **** it's marrow clean
And this meal
As if adieou
Of all memory
Of that beast's sense
Of this reality
And this brown brown brown
The king and capital of plate
And our position upon the evolutionary ladder
A little less seemingly madder
Of this culture of interrupting culture
For the satisfaction of our tongue
And of this insanity
Most seemingly insane
Shall affirm of our humane
As our cultural attest
To the other species detest
That the brown brown brown
Be a salute
From fork to mute
Of our common humanity
For whose going to stop us
The birds or the bees
And this brown brown brown
Be the flag of the humanity we wear
From infamy of mind
To the pork and the pear
Laid bare
Upon our shirt or lapel
Surely if we are to grapple
With ideas of genocide's justification
It's after picking the brown fibre
Of a pig's won't to pork
Upon your new shirt
With a clean silver fork
Or after dessert

Nem lembro mais quantas vezes
Senti tal amargura na garganta
Que deixa minha voz tão rouca
Talvez precise dar um tempo no cigarro
Ou de um café mais suave
Talvez precise de um tempo longe de você
Ou deixar de beber para te esquecer
Talvez precise ler muito mais você
Ou um tempo longe de tudo que me lembra você
Ou talvez, eu preciso mesmo é de você

Ma Diva veut  être meublée de parenthèses
De ïambes de jade meuble aux couleurs de toutes les toques
Et manches et casaques de l 'arc-en-ciel
Toque blanche manches vertes et casaque noire,
Toque rose manches blanches et casaque verte.

A l'intérieur des petites lunes enchantées
Entre losanges, étoiles et petits pois
Ma diva, oh la vilaine,  a mis des accolades et des crochets
De jade blanc, digressions  ponctuées périodiquement
Par d'exquises parties de ïambes en l'air.

Qui dit ïambe dit trochée
(me suis-je permis de préciser)
Et qui dit ïambe et trochée dit scansion
Alternance dans le pied, donc dans la marche
Dans le pas cadencé, l 'amble, le trot  et le galop
De la respiration longue et brève des solipèdes.

A l 'intérieur des parenthèses enchantées
Entre une espace et l 'autre de l 'écurie
J'ai vu danser ainsi une diva de forte encolure
Revendiquée modèle de Botero
Embarquer en longe un soleil pas trop chaud
Pour égayer le paddock de son haras
De vieilles pierres et de prés, de sous-bois et de beaux paysages
De musées et de concerts et de galipettes
Au bras d'un cavalier épicurien
Dragon de paille, bon à tout faire :
Lad qui la sorte à la longe
En chemise polaire de luxe
Cavalier qui la monte
Au grand steeple-chase de l'immortalité
En cajolant ses flancs de liqueur de jade blanche
Et  en même temps  groom qui la soigne
En divaguant en elle au gré de ses envies
De pierre semi-précieuse en transe.

mesmo se você nao fala
desculpa, mas você me faz feliz

e sim, eu sei
estamos sempre tão longe
como a distância da galáxia
talvez longe demais

mas você me dá esse sentimento
cada vez que uma e outra vez

talvez seja impossível
um outro sonho perdido
talvez seja possível
se nos ambos são fortes

faz o que quiser
viva a sua vida
como será viver
de qualquer maneira
te amo

Sinto a necessidade de ter calor humano,
Por puro conforto,
De sentir o meu corpo absorto.
Necessidade tão intensa e imensa
Longe do que se pensa,
Longe de qualquer dano.

O vento ouve-me, benevolente,
O que vai na alma.
Das palavras que correm na mente,
Traz a minha outra metade na sua palma
Para a alegria tomar conta da calma.

Reparo no meu cabelo a voar,
Nos meus dedos a moldar
As linhas do horizonte.
E tento retratar, magicar e afeiçoar
A imagem que tenho de ti na fonte.

Aproximo-me em passo na calada
E os meus olhos aborvem cada camada
Que no meu ver emerge.
Tudo diverge
Pois apareceste tu.

O meu coração acelera
Calmo noutra era.
Num ápice lento
Num rápido murmúrio
Olho-te com um muito atento.

Procuro fugir do teu olhar,
Com o sangue a ferver,
Com a cara a escaldar
Cansada desta fuga por resolver:
É aqui que vou ficar.

Vou vagueando de rua em rua
Observando rostos desconhecidos
E vazios

Tenho a certeza que nunca andei por estas vielas
Mas algo nelas é tão familiar,
Tão meu

Sento-me num banco escondido
Pouco iluminado
E penso em ti

Tu que me persegues para onde quer que vá.
Fujo, corro para longe e por mais longe que esteja
Perguntam-me: Em que estás a pensar?

E eu como sempre respondo:
Em nada.

Porque tu és para mim
O Nada do Mundo

Sumer is icumen in
anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1260 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Summer is a-comin’!
Sing loud, cuckoo!
The seed grows,
The meadow blows,
The woods spring up anew.
Sing, cuckoo!

The ewe bleats for her lamb;
The cows contentedly moo;
The bullock roots,
The billy-goat poots ...
Sing merrily, cuckoo!

Cuckoo, cuckoo,
You sing so well, cuckoo!
Never stop, until you're through!

Sing now cuckoo! Sing, cuckoo!
Sing, cuckoo! Sing now cuckoo!

***

Keywords/Tags: Middle English, medieval, reading, rota, round, partsong, summer, cuckoo, sing, cuckold, seed, meadow, woods, ewe, lamb, cows, bullock, goat, billy-goat, poot, ****, pass gas, never stop

These notes were taken from the poem's Wikipedia page ...

"Sumer Is Icumen In" (also called the Summer Canon and the Cuckoo Song) is a medieval English round or rota of the mid-13th century. The title translates approximately to "Summer Has Come In" or "Summer Has Arrived". The song is composed in the Wessex dialect of Middle English. Although the composer's identity is unknown today, it may have been W. de Wycombe. The manuscript in which it is preserved was copied between 1261 and 1264. This rota is the oldest known musical composition featuring six-part polyphony. It is sometimes called the Reading Rota because the earliest known copy of the composition, a manuscript written in mensural notation, was found at Reading Abbey; it was probably not drafted there, however (Millett 2004). The British Library now retains this manuscript (Millett 2003a). A rota is a type of round, which in turn is a kind of partsong. To perform the round, one singer begins the song, and a second starts singing the beginning again just as the first got to the point marked with the red cross in the first figure below. The length between the start and the cross corresponds to the modern notion of a bar, and the main verse comprises six phrases spread over twelve such bars. In addition, there are two lines marked "Pes", two bars each, that are meant to be sung together repeatedly underneath the main verse. These instructions are included (in Latin) in the manuscript itself:

"Hanc rota cantare possum quatuor socii. A paucio/ribus autem quam a tribus uel saltem duobus non debet/ dici preter eos qui dicunt pedem. Canitur autem sic. Tacen/tibus ceteris unus inchoat *** hiis qui tenent pedem. Et *** uenerit/ ad primam notam post crucem, inchoat alius, et sic de ceteris./ Singuli de uero repausent ad pausacionis scriptas et/non alibi, spacio unius longe note."

(Four companions can sing this round. But it should not be sung by fewer than three, or at the very least, two in addition to those who sing the pes. This is how it is sung. While all the others are silent, one person begins at the same time as those who sing the ground. And when he comes to the first note after the cross [which marks the end of the first two bars], another singer is to begin, and thus for the others. Each shall observe the written rests for the space of one long note [triplet], but not elsewhere.)

The lyric may have been composed by W. de Wycombe, also identified as W de Wyc, Willelmus de Winchecumbe, Willelmo de Winchecumbe or William of Winchcomb. He appears to have been a secular scribe and precentor employed for about four years at the priory of Leominster in Herefordshire during the 1270s. He is also thought to have been a sub-deacon of the cathedral priory as listed in the Worcester Annals or possibly a monk at St Andrew's in Worcester. But it is not know if he composed the song, or merely preserved it by copying it.

Nasceu no dia dos namorados. Filho de mãe brasileira com descendência holandesa e pai português. Tinha três irmãos: seu gêmeo Fabrício, o mais velho, Renato, e o terceiro, falecido, que era sua grande dor, nunca dizia seu nome e ninguém se atrevia a perguntar.
A pessoa em questão chamaremos de Jimmy. Jimmy Jazz.
Jimmy morava em Portugal, na cidade de Faro, e passou a infância fazendo viagens ao Brasil a fim de visitar a família de sua mãe; sempre rebelde, colecionava olhares tortos, lições de moral, renegações.
Seu maior inimigo, também chamado por ele de pai, declarou guerra contra suas ideologias punk, seu cabelo que gritava anarquismo, e a vontade que tinha ele de viver.
Certo dia, não qualquer dia mas no natal do ano em que Jimmy fez 14 anos, seu pai o expulsou de casa. Mais um menino perdido na rua se tornou o pequeno aspirante à poeta, agora um verdadeiro marginal.
Não tinha para onde ir. Sentou-se na calçada, olhou para seus pés e agradeceu pela sorte de estar de sapatos e ter uma caneta no bolso no momento da expulsão, seu pai não o deixara com nada, nem um vintém, e tinha fome.
Rondou pelas mesmas quadras ao redor de sua casa por uns dias, até se cansar dos mesmos rostos e da rotina daquela região, então tomou coragem e resolveu explorar outras vidas, havia encontrado um caderno em branco dentro de uma biblioteca pública onde costumava passar o dia lendo e este seria seu amigo por um bom tempo.
Orgulhoso, auto-suficiente, o menino de apenas 14 anos acabou encontrando alguém como ele, por fim. Seu nome era Allan, um punk que, apesar de ainda ter uma casa, estava doido para ir embora viver sua rotina de não ter rotina alguma, e eles levaram isso muito à sério.
Logo se tornaram inseparáveis, arrumaram emprego juntos, que não era muito mas conseguiria mantê-los pelo menos até terminarem a escola, conseguiram alugar uma casa e compraram um cachorro que nunca ganhou nome pois não conseguiam entrar em acordo sobre isso, Jimmy tinha também um lagarto de estimação que chamava de Mr. White, sua paixão.
Os dois amigos começaram a frequentar o que antes só viam na teoria: as festas punk; finalmente haviam conseguido o que estavam procurando há tempos: liberdade total de expressão e ação. Rodeados por todos os tipos de drogas e práticas sexuais, mas principalmente, a razão de todo o movimento: a música.
Jimmy tinha inúmeras camisetas dos Smiths, sua banda favorita, e em seu quarto já não se sabia a cor das paredes que estavam cobertas por pôsteres de bandas dos anos 80 e 90, décadas sagradas para qualquer amante da música e Jimmy era um deles, sem dúvida.
Apesar da vida desregrada que levava com o amigo, Jimmy conseguiu ingressar na faculdade de Letras, contribuindo para sua vontade de fazer poesia, e Allan em enfermagem. Os dois, ao contrário do que seus familiares pensavam, eram extremamente inteligentes, cultos, criaram um clube de poesia com mais dois ou três amigos que conheceram em uma das festas e chamaram de "Sociedade dos Poetas Mortos... e Drogados!", fazendo referência ao filme de  Peter Weir.
O nome não era apenas uma piada entre eles, era a maior verdade de suas vidas, eles eram drogados, Jimmy  era viciado em heroína, Allan também mas em menos intensidade que seu parceiro.
Jimmy não era hétero, gay, bissexual ou qualquer outra coisa que se encaixe dentro de um quadrado exigido pela sociedade, Jimmy era do amor livre, Jimmy apenas amava. E com o passar o tempo, amava seu amigo de forma diferente, assustado pelo sentimento, escondeu o maior tempo que pôde até que o sentimento sumisse, afinal é só um hormônio e a vida voltaria ao normal, mas a amizade era e sempre seria algo além disso: uma conexão espiritual, se acreditassem em almas.
Ambos continuaram suas vidas sendo visitados pela família (no caso de Jimmy, apenas sua mãe) duas vezes ao ano, no máximo, e nesses dias não faziam questão de esconderem seus cigarros, piercings ou qualquer pista da vida que levavam sozinhos, afinal, não os devia mais nada já que seus vícios, tanto químicos quanto musicais, eram bancados por eles mesmos.
Era 14 de fevereiro e Jimmy completara 19 anos, a vida ainda era a mesma, o amigo também, mas sua saúde não, principalmente sua saúde mental.
O poeta de sofá, como alguns de nós, sofria de um existencialismo perturbador, o mundo inteiro doía no seu ser, e não podia fazer muito sobre aquilo, afinal o que poderia fazer à respeito senão escrever?
Até pensou em viver de música já que tocava dois instrumentos, mas a ideia de ter desconhecidos desfrutando ou zombando dos seus sentimentos mais puros não lhe era agradável. Continuou a escrever sobre suas dores e amores, e se perguntava por que se sentia daquela forma, por que não poderia ser como seu irmão que, apesar de possuírem aparência idêntica, eram extremos do mesmo corpo. Fabrício era apenas outro cidadão português que chegava em casa antes de sua mãe ficar preocupada, não que ele fosse um filho exemplar, ele só era... normal, e era tudo que Jimmy não era e jamais gostaria de ser; aliás, ter uma vida comum era visto com desprezo pelos olhos dele, olhos que, ainda tão cedo, haviam visto o melhor e o pior da vida, já não acreditava em nada, nem em si mesmo, nem em deus, nem no universo, nem no amor.
Como poderia alguém amar uma pessoa com tanta dor dentro de si? Como ele explicaria sua vontade de morrer à alguém que ele gostaria de passar a vida toda com? Era uma contradição ambulante. Uma contradição de olhos azuis, profundos, e com hematomas pelo corpo todo.
Aos 20 anos, o tédio e a depressão ainda controlavam seu estado emocional a maior parte do tempo, aos domingos era tudo pior, existe algo sobre domingo à tarde que é inexplicável e insuportável para os existencialistas, e para ele não seria diferente. Em um domingo qualquer, se sentindo sozinho, resolveu entrar em um chat online daqueles famosos, e na primeira tentativa de conversa conheceu uma moça do Brasil, que como ele, amava a banda Placebo e sendo existencialista, também sofria de solidão, o que facilitou na construção dos assuntos.
Ela não deu muita importância ao português que dizia "não ser punk porque punks não se chamam de punks", já estava cansada de amores e amizades à distância, decidiu se despedir. O rapaz, insistente e talvez curioso sobre a pessoa com quem se deparara por puro acaso, perguntou se poderiam conversar novamente, e não sabendo a dor que isso a causaria, cedeu.
Assim como havia feito com Allan, Jimmy conquistou Julien, a nova amiga, rapidamente. De um dia para o outro, se pegou esperando para que Jimmy voltasse logo para casa para que pudessem conversar sobre poesia, música, começo e fim da vida, todos os porquês do mundo em apenas uma noite, e então perceberam que já não estavam sozinhos, principalmente ela, que havia tempo não conhecia alguém tão interessante e único quanto ele.
Não demorou muito para que trocassem confidências e os segredos mais íntimos, mas nem tudo era tão sério, riam juntos como nunca antes, e todos sabem que o caminho para o coração de uma mulher é o bom humor, Julien se encontrava perdidamente apaixonada pelo ****** que conhecera num site de relacionamentos e isso se tornaria um problema.
Qualquer relacionamento à distância é complicado por natureza, agora adicione dois suicidas em potencial, um deles viciado em heroína e outra que de tão frustrada já não ligava tanto para sede de viver que sentia, queria apenas ler poesia longe de todas as pessoas comuns, essas que ambos abominavam.
Jimmy era todos os ídolos de Julien comprimidos dentro de si. Ele era Marilyn Manson, era Brian Molko, era Gerard Way, Billy Corgan, Kurt Cobain, mas acima de todos esses, Jimmy era Sid Vicious e Julien sonhava com seus dias de Nancy.
Ele era o primeiro e último pensamento dela, e se tornou o tema principal de toda as poesias que escrevia, assim como as que lia, parecia que todas eram sobre o luso-brasileiro que considerava sua cópia masculina. Jimmy, como ela, era feminista, cheio de ideologias e viciado em bandas, mas ao contrário dela, não teria tanto tempo para essas coisas.
Estava apaixonado por um rapaz brasileiro, Estêvão, que também dizia estar apaixonado por ele mas nunca passaram disso, e logo se formou um semi-triângulo amoroso, pois Julien sabia da existência da paixão de Jimmy, mas Estêvão não sabia que existia outra brasileira que amava a mesma pessoa perdidamente. Não sentiu raiva dele, pelo contrário, apoiava o romance dos dois já que tudo que importava à ela era a felicidade de Jimmy, que como ela, era infeliz, e as chances de pessoas como eles serem felizes algum dia é quase nula.
O brasileiro era amante da MPB e da poesia do país, assim como amava ouvir pós-punk e escrever, interesses que eram comum aos três perdidos, mas era profissional para ele já que conseguira que seus trabalhos fossem publicados diversas vezes. Se Jimmy era Sid Vicious, Julien desejava ser Nancy (ou Courtney Love dependendo do humor), Estêvão era Cazuza.
Morava sozinho e não conseguia se fixar em lugar algum, estava à procura de algo que só poderia achar dentro dele mesmo mas não sabia por onde começar; convivia com *** há alguns meses na época, mas estava relativamente bem com aquilo, tinha um controle emocional maior do que nosso Sid.
Assim como aconteceu com Allan e Julien, não demorou muito para que Estêvão caísse nos encantos de Jimmy, que não eram poucos, e não fazia mais tanta questão de esconder o que sentia por ele. Dono de olhos infinitamente azuis, cabelo bagunçado que mudava de cor frequentemente, corpo magro, pálido, e escrevia os versos mais lindos que poderia imaginar, Jimmy era o ser mais irresistível para qualquer um que quisesse um bom tema para escrever.
--
Julien era de uma cidade pequena do Brasil, onde, sem a internet, jamais poderia ter conhecido Jimmy, que frequentava apenas as grandes cidades do país. Filha de pais separados, tinha o mesmo ódio pelo pai que ele, mas diferente do amigo, seu ódio era usado contra ela mesma, auto-destrutiva é um termo que definiria sua personalidade. Era de se esperar que ela se apaixonasse por alguém viciado em drogas, existe algo de romântico sobre tudo isso, afinal.
Em uma quarta-feira comum, antecipada por um dia nublado, escreveu:

Minhas palavras, todas tiradas dos teus poemas
Teu sotaque, uma voz imaginada
Que obra de arte eram teus olhos
Feitos de um azul-convite

E eu aceitei.

Jimmy era agora seu mundo, e qualquer lugar do mundo a lembrava dele. Qualquer frase proferida aleatoriamente em uma roda de amigos e automaticamente conseguia ouvir sua opinião sobre o assunto, ela o conhecia como ninguém, e em tão pouco tempo já não precisavam falar muita coisa, os dois sabiam dos dois.
Desejava que Jimmy fosse inteiramente dela, corpo e mente, que cada célula de seu ser pudesse tocar todas as células do dela, e que todos os pensamentos dele fossem sobre amá-la, mas como a maioria das coisas que queria, nada iria acontecer, se achava a pessoa mais azarada do mundo (e provavelmente era).
Em uma noite qualquer, após esperar o dia todo ansiosa pela hora em que Jimmy voltaria da faculdade, ele não apareceu. Bom, ele era mesmo uma pessoa inconstante e já estava acostumada à esse tipo de surpresa, mas existia algo diferente sobre aquela noite, sabia que Jimmy estava escondendo alguma coisa dela pois há dias estava estranho e calado, dormia cedo, acordava tarde, não comia, e as músicas que costumavam trocar estavam se tornando cada vez mais tristes, mas era inútil questionar, apesar da intimidade, ele se tornara uma pessoa reservada, o que era totalmente compreensível.
Após três ou quatro dias de aflição, ele finalmente volta e não parece bem, mesmo sem ver seu rosto, conhecia as palavras usadas por ele em todos os momentos. Preocupada com o sumiço, foi logo questionando sua ausência com certa raiva e euforia, Jimmy não respondia uma letra sequer. Julien deixou uma lágrima escorrer e implorou por respostas, tinha a certeza de que algo estava muito errado.
"Acalme-se, ou não poderei lhe contar hoje. Algo aconteceu e seu pressentimento está mais que correto, mas preciso que entenda o meu silêncio", disse à ela.
Julien não respondeu nada além de "me dê seu número, sinto que isso não é algo que se conta por escrito".
Discando o número gigantesco, cheio de códigos, sabia que assim que terminasse aquela ligação teria um problema muito maior do que a alta taxa que é cobrada por ligações internacionais. Ele atendeu e começou a falar interrompendo qualquer formalidade que ela viria a proferir:

– Apenas escute e prometa-me que não irá chorar.
Ela não disse nada, aceitando a condição.
– Há tempos não sinto-me bem, faço as mesmas coisas, não mudei meus costumes, embora deveria mas agora é tarde demais. Sinto-me diferente, meu corpo... fraco. Preciso te contar mas não tenho as palavras certas, acho que nem existem palavras certas para o que estou prestes à dizer então serei direto: descobri que sou *** positivo. ´
Um silêncio quase mórbido no ar, dos dois lados da linha.
Parecia-se com um tiro que atravessou o estômago dos dois, e nenhum podia falar.
Julien quebrou o silêncio desligando o telefone. Não podia expressar a dor que sentia, o sentimento de injustiça que a deixava de mãos atadas, Ele era a última pessoa do mundo que merecia aquilo, para ela, Jimmy era sagrado.

Apenas uma pessoa soube da nova situação de Jimmy antes de Julien: Allan.
Dois dias antes de contar tudo à amiga, Jimmy havia ido ao hospital sozinho, chegou em casa mais cedo, sentou-se no sofá e quis morrer, comparou o exame médico à um atestado de óbito e deu-se por morto. Allan chegou em casa e encontrou o amigo no chão, de olhos inchados, mãos trêmulas. Tirou o envelope de baixo dos braço de Jimmy, que o segurava como se fosse voar a qualquer instante, como se tivesse que apertar ao máximo para ter certeza de que aquilo era real. Enquanto lia os papéis, Jimmy suplicava sua morte, em meio à lágrimas, Allan lhe beijou como o amante oculto que foi por anos, com lábios fracos que resumiam a dor e o medo mas usou um disfarce para o pânico que sentia e sussurrou "não sinto nojo de ti, meu amigo, não estás morto".
Palavras inúteis. Já não queria ouvir nada, saber de nada. Jimmy então tentou dormir mas todas as memórias das vezes que usou drogas, que transou sem saber com quem, onde ou como, estavam piscando como flashes de luz quase cegantes e sentia uma culpa incomparável, um medo, terror. Mas nenhuma memória foi tão perturbadora quanto a da vez em que sofreu abuso ****** em uma das festas. Uma pessoa aleatória e sem grande importância, aproveitou-se do menino pálido e mirrado que estava dormindo no chão, quase desmaiado por culpa de todo o álcool consumido, mas ainda consciente, Jimmy conseguia sentir sua cabeça sendo pressionada contra a poça d'água que estava em baixo de seu corpo, e ouvia risos, e esses mesmos risos estavam rindo dele agora enquanto tentava dormir e rezava pra um deus que não acredita para que tudo fosse um pesadelo.
----
Naquele dia, Jimmy, que já era pessimista por si só, prometeu que não se trataria, que iria apenas esperar a morte, uma morte precoce, e que este seria o desfecho perfeito para alguém que envelheceu tão rápido, mas ele não esperaria sentado, iria continuar sua vida de auto-destruição, saindo cedo e voltando tarde, dormindo e comendo mal, não pararia também com nenhum tipo de droga, principalmente cigarro, que era tão importante quanto a caneta ao escrever seus poemas, dizia que sentir a cinza ainda quente caindo no peito o inspirava.
Outra manhã chegou, e mesmo que desejasse com toda força, tudo ainda era real, seus pensamentos eram confusos, dúvidas e incertezas tão insuportáveis que poderiam causar dores físicas e curadas com analgésicos. Trocou o dia pela noite, já não via o sol, não via rostos crús como os que se vê quando estamos à caminho do trabalho, só via os personagens da noite, prostitutas, vendedores de drogas, pessoas que compravam essas drogas, e gente como ele, de coração quebrado, pessoas que perderam amigos (ou não têm), que perderam a si mesmos, que terminaram relacionamentos até então eternos, que já não suportavam a vida medíocre imposta por uma sociedade programada e hipócrita. Continuou indo aos mesmos lugares por semanas, e já não dormia em casa todos os dias, sempre arrumava um espaço na casa de algum amigo ou conhecido, como se doesse encara

Tuas parcas impressões não me comovem
Irrito-me a cada interrupção gentil que tu fazes e
Devoro a mim mesmo em lúgubre fome,
A lamentar o que de bom poderia ter feito
Se e se

Mas

Às três da tarde
Apodreço numa cadeira áspera
Quase tão fétido quanto a fruta do vômito
Passada do ponto de colheita

Às cinco da tarde
Eu já sou molho estragado
Setenta por cento aglomerado literal de leucócitos degenerados
Pus integral

Ao cair do sol,
Sou um alface hidropônico
Pronto para ser vendido, lavado e comido por ti
Interruptor imbecil.

Voltar-me-ei ao mar
Ao esgoto
Num estado de paz surda

A solidão é um inspirar sufocado
Sufoca
Oxida as ideias
É tortura comodamente induzida

Se hoje fervilho, é sorte
Pura boa-aventurança;
Pois do profundo cócito
Fui e voltei

E cá estou
Inteiro
Longe dos dentes de Deus.

Estou na margem... Para lá do abismo.
Longe de mim ficaram os momentos que vivi à beira-mar. Mais longe, como uma visão, o teu rosto vindo do céu, esses lábios que não são do ser que nunca fostes e que eu beijei ao esquecer-me de beijar. Tua mão desdobra meus dedos, dobrados pelo tempo. Se o que sou não sinto, o que sinto e sou não importa.

Sei-te intrépida.
Cingida ao que não sabes,
na constante manifestação
dos sentidos exacerbados.
Atenta, constantemente inconstante...
Afirmação exclamativa do
que toda a gente deveria ser.
Uma alma manifestada,
uma calma que sabe que vai longe;
que sabe que o longe
é aqui,
e que, sem pressa,
se apressa
em lá chegar.

My vingers jeuk om iets te skryf
My hart bloei storms
Maar my vingers jeuk
My gemoed eb en vloei
Maar my vingers jeuk om iets te skryf
My siel hammer verwoed teen my ribbekas
En my vingers jeuk om te skryf

My pen hunker om te vloek
Die swart ink wil die wit vel breek en skree
My polse wil huil
My longe wil verteer
En my nek wil omhels word met n tou
Maar my vingers jeuk om te skryf

Ék kan nie díe jeuk krap nie.
Dít klou aan mý wese
En dít krap mý verstand
En ek bloei waansin
En ek wil skree vir die maan
En ek wil vloek tenoor die son.

My vingers jeuk on te skryf
En ek gee in tot die demoon
Wat honger na n stem.

Iewers sal my woorde weer
N lee papier vind...
En dan kan ek sy lastergille tem.

Este insólito e inaudito conjunto de explosões atemporais,
inobservável a longas distâncias,
é, factualmente, o tecelão da portentosa dimensão da mente.

Abundantes vozes desnorteadas,
obscuras e perturbadoras, nela se fazem existir.

São vozes que são sentidas,
vozes sombrias que escrevem.
Vozes pelas quais fui, eu próprio, desenhado.

E criado para navegar,
parti para o mar em busca das partes que me faltavam em terra firme.

Fragmentado,
nas mais diversas ilhas - paradisíacas e apocalípticas -,
nas profundezas e no horizonte azul,
busco, ainda hoje, estilhaços e peças escassas perdidas;

Cotidianamente,
ao acercar da noite,
os sons de batalha tendenciosamente indicam direções para não seguir,
e ainda que mantenha sem medo o controle das velas,
os ventos insistem em dizer aonde ir...

Pois que seja! "Navegarei com todos eles!"

'Placebo ou morte?'
O que minha tripulação anseia não importa,
ela tampouco existe.

Nesta irremediável transposição constante de caminhos,
sem o reconhecimento de qualquer lógica postulável,
oscilante, transgrido e navego ainda por mares intergaláticos.

E nesta imensidão extraordinariamente escura do cosmos,
carregando a experiência daqueles oceanos pesados e profundos,
me encontro a observar, sempre ao longe, uma fagulha,
ínfimo ponto que se faz visível.

Em sua direção,
continuo a jornada do pouco infindável
dessa dimensão que permanentemente remanesce como o desconhecido.

O mais próximo e o maior ângulo possível
para apreciar esse pontual, eterno e único nascer da super nova,
eu encontrarei.

Hoje enquanto dormia, sonhei que num jardim vivia,
Ouvia os pássaros, cantar lindas canções, com ternura,
Sentia-se a água da chuva correr sem sua armadura,
As flores eram verdes, como os sonhos, de pura lixivia!

Lavaram-se as vestes, lavaram-se as mãos, enquanto sonhava
Quando acordei pela manha do costume cheia de sonhos,
Percebi que se tinha tornado uma rotina ser feliz e eu amava,
Amava incansavelmente seus olhos, via o coração aos quadradinhos!

Quadros pintados nas paredes de casa cheio de nossas recordações,
Hoje, era senão mais um dia, onde pintava na tela nossas emoções,
Aquilo que começou num passeio descalço junto da lagoa vazia,
Formava agora na parede de casa retractos de uma família que crescia!

Peguei depois na espátula da minha vida, peguei-a de nova na mão,
Olhei-a nos olhos, senti-lhe as formas e apertei-a ali junto ao coração,
Em tempos atrás deixei-te fugir, deixei-te viver e crescer longe de mim,
Mas hoje, e agora, para sempre, te quero ter aqui, até aquilo que é o fim!

Quando à noite me for deitar, só quero acordar para te olhar o rosto,
Porque os sonhos, por mais belos e lindos, mesmo de nos encantar,
Não se comparam sequer a tudo aquilo que tu na vida me fazes amar!

Autor: António Benigno
Código de autor: 2013.08.29.02.17

Cansei de literatura fraca e coração mais fraco ainda.
Cansei de jogo escondido e dedo quebrado pra estalar a boca.
Cansei de sentir e esperar deixar.
Cansei da risada que vem de longe, cheia de graça daquilo que pra mim é tão amargo.
Cansei da úlcera de ansiar por todos os motivos errados.
Cansei dos cortes e do sangue na coberta amanhecida pelos sonhos ruins.
Cansei dos olhares e palavras soltas nas diagonais que são sempre pra você.
Cansei de ouvir as músicas das coisas que eu sentia.
Cansei dos poemas que são mesmo, pra todo mundo.
Poesia é pra todo mundo.
Cansei.
Poesia não é pra todo mundo.
Nem eu.

Nunca achei que seria tão fácil me vendar
Mas olhando para trás
Havia tantas coisas que não gostaria de ver
E talvez graças a essa cegueira, lembrar não me faz sofrer
Apenas buscar um abraço e tentar esquecer
Ver o mundo desaparecer

Talvez viver de promessas e sonhos foi o que nós fez perder
E todo esses pedregulhos viraram aterros
Para os próximos sonhos
Que podem se tornar verdadeiros
E não apenas uma moldura sem fotografia
Que decora a mobília de um cômodo sem a pintura do apego

E deixar o tempo passar seja o melhor que tenho a fazer
Ele revigora e maquia cicatrizes que nem podemos ver
Por isso talvez, mesmo sem historias para contar
Acho que deveria me entregar
Para que ele me leve ao lugar mais distante de ti

Sempre achei que um pouco de nós faria bem
O que dizer? nunca fui muito bom em escolher
Mas talvez se nós reencontrarmos em alguns anos quais quer
Podemos perceber que o jogo nunca terminou
Apenas virou, e agora estamos em times diferentes
Sempre se esbarrando e se machucando
Mas nunca se cumprimentando

Talvez devesse ter visto de longe
Ou não ter me iludido tanto
E saber que fomos
Destinados a fingir
Viver de falsas proximidades e carícias geladas
E nunca de ternura nos abraços ou paixão nos beijos
Destinados a fingir
Uma paixão idiota
Que mais parecia um cigarro
Que logo se transforma em fumaça
E no vento para o mundo se esvai

Ó terra fria e suja,
Com que os vivos me taparam...
Fui acorrentada
       aprisionada
       encaixotada
Cabeça, corpo e alma soterrada,
Quando ainda não tinha idade...
Era bela e tenra a idade para me saber salvar.

A criança que fui, se é que a fui,
Jaz numa campa, jaz lá deitada.
Tornou-se um símbolo de pureza,
Da minha inocência arruinada.
Mal fechou os olhos, soltou-se o último suspiro,
Abriu-se a Terra e ouviu-se em grito:

"És só mais uma pessoa estragada!
Bem-vinda ao mundo real,
Aí em cima, estar partida é requisito.
Desce cá abaixo, atira-te sem medos,
tenho muito para te ensinar!
Aqui somos todos filhos do Diabo,
Dançamos com ele lado a lado,
Aniquilamos o que em nós já estava manchado,
Destruímos a ferro e fogo o ódio e o pecado,
Renascemos livres e prontos para amar.
Anda recuperar a pureza que te tentaram matar!"

Bichos do solo que devoravam
O meu corpo gélido e petrificado.
Via-os passar por cima do meu olhar desesperado,
Comiam o que restava do meu coração.
Quase, quase adormecido...
Quase, quase devorado...
Quase, quase esquecido....
É bom relembrar-me que estou só de passagem,
Enquanto me entrego ao sonho e a esta última miragem
Da violência, da ganância, da frieza, da ignorância,
Que só os vivos desta Terra conseguem revelar.


Acharam eles que me iam quebrar!

Belo truque de ilusionismo!
Foi o que me tentaram ensinar.
Levei metade da vida para me desapegar
De todos os maus ensinamentos que me tentaram pregar.
Mas não sou Cristo para me pregarem,
Prefiro crucificar-me já.
Nem sou Houdini para me escapar,
Prefiro o prazer que ficar me dá.
A minha maneira é mais barbária,
Abri caminho à machadada,
Incendiei a cruz e a aldeia inteira,
Rebentei com o caixão onde estava enfiada.
Fui à busca da liberdade, para longe.
Bem longe, onde não me pudessem encontrar.
Não encontrei a liberdade, essa já a tinha, já era minha.
Mas reencontrei a inocência que há tanto queria recuperar.

Chamem-me bruxa moderna!
Mulher sensitiva, sonhadora, intuitiva,
Que vê além do que os sentidos mostram,
Que sente além da fronteira que nos separa do invisível.
Neta, bisneta, trisneta, tetraneta,
De mulheres poderosas e ancestrais.
Das chamadas "bruxas originais"
Que os cobardes não conseguiram queimar.
E bem que as tentaram erradicar!
Mas a magia sobrevive à História!
Poder senti-la hoje, poder perpetua-la,
Essa será sempre a nossa vitória, pertence a todas as mulheres.

Que venham agora tentar apanhar-me!

Solto-lhes as chamas do Inferno,
Onde os deuses me escolheram forjar.

Ai, a crueldade que este mundo traz...

Só mesmo as pessoas, essa raça sadia que é capaz
De destruir o seu semelhante, manipular o seu próprio irmão,
Sem um único pingo de compaixão.
Pegam na pá, cavam-lhe o precipício,
São os primeiros a empurrarem-no ao chão.
Reparem bem...Disse "pessoas",
Que é bem diferente de "seres-humanos",
Essa é a questão.
Porque quem sabe ser-humano, sabe bem daquilo que escrevo,
Não é indiferente à sua própria condição,
Limitada, defeituosa, machucada.
Basicamente, não valemos nada! Que alívio, admiti-lo.
Loucos são os que vivem na ilusão
De serem superiores aos bichos do solo.
Os mesmos que vos vão devorar os olhos no caixão.

(...)

Ó terra fria e suja
Com que me taparam...
De lágrimas foste regada,
De ti surgiu o que ninguém sonhava,
Um milagre que veio pela calada.
Um girassol!
Com pétalas de água salgada
Que sai pelo seu caule disparada.
És tudo, simultaneamente!
És nascente do rio e és fonte avariada.
Pura água! onde toda a gente mergulhava,
Apesar de não saberem lá nadar.
Não paravam para a beber, quanto mais para a apreciar.

Talvez tenha sido numa noite de luar,
Que conheci uma ave rara...
Uma beija-flor colorida, com olhos castanhos de encantar,
Formas humanas, magníficas,
E uma voz melódica de fazer arrepiar.
Talvez tenha sido num dia de sol,
Que ela me observara, indecisa sobre a partida ou chegada.
Porque é que em mim pousara?
Não sei. Não a questionei.
Fiquei encantada! Estava tão tranquila
Que quase... quase flutuava, como uma pena soprada,
Enquanto ela penicava a minha água salgada,
Banhava-se na minha corrente agitada,
Sentia os mil sabores enquanto a devorava,
Absorvia-me no seu corpo sem medo de nada.
Não havia presente, passado ou futuro!
Só havia eu, ela e as semelhanças que nos representam,
Os opostos que nos atraem e complementam,
O amor que é arrebatador, ingénuo e puro.

Nessa noite, nesse dia, descobri que a água amava!
Como é que posso dizer isto de uma coisa inanimada?
Vejo vivos que já estão mortos,
Submersos nos seus próprios esgotos mentais.
Vejo coisas que estão vivas,
Como a água que nunca pára,
Não desiste de beijar a costa por mais que ela a mande para trás.
Ela vai! Mas sempre volta.
Se o amor não é isso, então que outro nome lhe dás?

Podia jurar que ouvi a água a falar...
Que sina a minha!
Outra que disse que veio para me ensinar.
Envolveu-me nos seus braços e disse:
"Confia! Sei que é difícil, mas confia, deixa-te levar.
A água cria! A água sabe! A água sabe tudo!
Já se banharam nestes mesmos oceanos
Todas as gerações que habitaram este mundo.
É a água que esconde os segredos da humanidade,
Os seus mistérios mais profundos.
É a água que acalma, é a água que jorra, é a água que afoga,
Dá-te vida ao corpo, mas também a cobra."

Não era a água...estava enganada.
Era a minha ave rara quem me falara,
Quem me sussurrava ao ouvido,
Com um tom de voz quase imperceptível mas fluído.
Que animal destemido!
Decidiu partilhar um pouco de si comigo,
Decidiu mostrar-me que pode existir no outro
um porto de abrigo.
Teceu-me asas para que pudesse voar!
E disse "Vai! Voa! Sê livre!",
Mas depois de a encontrar, não havia outro sítio no mundo onde eu preferisse estar.
Ensinou-me a mergulhar, a não resistir à corrente,
A suster a respiração, controlar o batimento do coração,
Desbravar o fundo do mar, sem ter de lá ficar.

Verdade seja dita! Devo ter aprendido bem.
Verdade seja dita! Sempre à tona regressei.

Bem que me tentaram afogar! Eu mesma tentei.

Mas verdade seja dita! Sou teimosa, orgulhosa.
Se tiver de morrer, assim será! Mas serei eu!
Eu e só eu, que irei escolher quando me matar.

Pode parecer sombrio, dito da forma fria que o digo.
Mas verdade seja dita! Sinto um quente cá dentro,
Quando penso na liberdade de poder escolher
A altura certa que quero viver
Ou a altura certa que quero morrer.

(...)

Com as asas que me ofereceu,
Dedico-me à escrita, para que a verdade seja dita.
Da analogia, à hipérbole, à metáfora, à antítese.
Sou uma contradição maldita!
Sou um belo paradoxo emocional!
Prefiro voar só, a não ser quando bem acompanhada.
Porque neste longa jornada,
A que gosto de chamar de "vida" ou "fachada",
Há quem me ajude a caminhar.

Pela dura estrada, às vezes voo de asa dada.
Celebro com a minha ave rara a pureza reconquistada!
Permitimos que as nossas raízes escolham o lugar
Por onde se querem espalhar.
Seja na Terra, no Céu, no Mar.
Somos livres para escolher!
Onde, quando e como desejamos assentar.

(...)

Dizem que em Terra de Cegos,
Quem tem olho é Rei.
Digo-lhes que tinha os dois bem abertos!
Quando ao trono renunciei.

Não quero a Coroa, não ambiciono o bastão,
Não quero dinheiro para esbanjar,
Não quero um povo para controlar.
Quero manter o coração aberto!
E que seja ele a liderar!
Deixo o trono para quem o queira ocupar.
Para quem venha com boas intenções,
Que saiba que há o respeito de todo um povo a reconquistar.
Quem não tenha medo de percorrer todas as ruas da cidade,
Da aldeia, do bairro... desde a riqueza à precaridade.
Para quem trate com equidade todo o seu semelhante,
Seja rico ou pobre, novo ou velho, gordo ou magro,
inteligente ou ignorante.
Vamos mostrar que é possível o respeito pela diversidade!

Governemos juntos! Lado a lado!

(...)

O reflexo na água é conturbado...
Salto entre assuntos, sem terminar os que tinha começado.
Nunca gostei muito de regras e normas, sejam líricas, sociais ou gramaticais.
No entanto, quanto mais tempo me tenho observado,
Mais vejo que há um infinito em mim espelhado.
Sou eterna! Efémera...
Só estou de visita! E, depois desta vida,
Haverá mais lugares para visitar, outras formas para ser.
Só estou de visita! É nisso que escolho acreditar.
Vim para experienciar! Nascer, andar, correr,
Cair, levantar, aprender, amar, sofrer,
Repetir, renascer...

Ah! E, gostava de, pelo menos, uma grande pegada deixar.
Uma pegada bem funda, na alma de um outro alguém,
Como se tivesse sido feita em cimento que estava a secar.
Uma pegada que ninguém conseguirá apagar.

E, se neste mundo eu não me enquadrar?

Não faz mal! É porque vim para um novo mundo criar.
Para ser a mudança que ainda não existe,
Para ter o prazer de vos contrariar.

Sou feita de amor, raiva, luz, escuridão, magia,
Intensidade que vibra e contagia.
Giro, giro e giro-ao-sol, enquanto o sol girar.
Mesmo quando ele desaparece, para que a nossa lua possa brilhar.

Quem, afinal, diria?
Que o amor que me tentaram assassinar,
Cresceu tão forte em agonia
Que tornou-se tóxico, só para os conseguir contaminar.
E inundar, e transbordar, quem sabe, para os mudar.
Como que por rebeldia, estou habituada a ser a que contraria.
Prefiro fazer tudo ao contrário!
Em vez de me deixar ser dominada, prefiro ser eu a dominar.
Mais depressa me mantenho fiel à alma que me guia,
Do que a qualquer pessoa que me venha tentar limitar.
Nunca fui boa a ser o que o outro queria.
Nunca foi boa a reduzir-me, para me certificar que no outro haveria um espaço onde eu caberia.

Uma mente que foi expandida
Jamais voltará a ser comprimida!
Nunca mais será enclausurada! Num espaço fechado
                                                         ­                         pré-programado
                         ­                                                         condicio­nado
Cheio de pessoas com o espírito acorrentado,
Que se recusam a libertar das suas próprias amarras,
Quebrar antigos padrões, olhar para fora da caverna,
Em direção ao mundo que continua por ser explorado.

"Então é aqui a Terra? O tal Inferno que me tinham falado!"

Sejam livres de prisões!
Revoltem-se, unam-se, libertem-se!
A vocês e aos vossos irmãos!
Vão ao passo do mais lento!
Certifiquem-se que ninguém fica para trás!
Sejam fortes e valentes!
Mostrem que, com todos juntos,
A mudança será revolucionária e eficaz!
Apoiem-se uns aos outros!
Não confiem no Estado!
Dêem a mão uns aos outros, sejam o apoio que vos tem faltado!

(...)

Carrego a luz que dei à vida e, reclamo-a para mim.
Não me importo de a partilhar,
Faço-o de boa vontade!
Este mundo precisa de menos pessoas e mais humanidade.
Esta humildade, esta forte fragilidade,
Brotou das mortes que sofri, de todos os horrores que já vi.
Brotou força, de todas as lutas que sobrevivi.
Brotou sabedoria, de todos os erros que cometi,
De todos aqueles que corrigi, e dos que ainda não me apercebi.

Criei-me do nada.
Resisti!
Como uma fénix sagrada e abençoada,
Moldei-me sem fim, nem começo...
Queimei o passado, sem o ter apagado.
Ensinei-me a manter os olhos para a frente.
Permiti-me à libertação!
De enterrar o que me tentou destruir anteriormente.

Moro no topo da montanha.
Amarela, azul, verde e castanha.
A tal montanha que só por mim é avistada,
No novo mundo que criei para a minha alma cansada.

Moro no topo de céu.
Numa casa feita de girassóis sem fim, nem começo...
Que plantei para oferecer à minha ave rara,
Ao meu beija-flor colorido. O meu beija-flor preferido!
Que me veio ensinar que o amor existe.
Afinal ele existe!
E é bruto. Intoxicante. Recíproco.
Mas nem sempre é bonito.
Seja como for, aceito o seu amor!

Este dedico-te a ti, minha beija-flor encantada.
Tu! Que me vieste manter viva e apaixonada.
Porque quando estás presente,
A Terra não é fria, nem enclausura. Ao pé de ti, posso ser suja!
Acendes a chama e fico quente!
Porque quando estás presente,
Iluminas-me a cabeça, o corpo, a alma e a mente.
Porque quando estás presente,
Sinto que giro-ao-sol e ele gira cá.
E, se existe frio, não é da Terra.
É o frio na barriga!
Por sentir tanto amor! é isso que me dá.

Eu vou te achar em todo lugar.
Mesmo quando as gotas da chuva
Caírem para cima.
Nenhum lugar é seguro
Longe do seu acalento,
Da sua pele macia
Da doçura dos seus lábios.

É vento ou chuva, ou pequeno contratempo,
Vêm o sol e brilha o céu, de me ouvir falar,
As chamas se apagaram, num contratempo,
A vontade de ver brilhar há, e não vai acabar!

Os dias cinzentos não fizeram algum sentido,
As pessoas pelos tempos afirmam vontades,
Eu pinto o quadro de sangues e lealdades,
Aqueceu-se o dia e para nós, céu bandido!

Leva-nos as queridas saudades, sente o carinho,
Destes seres de alma vadia e despreocupados,
Nossas mentes não são seres assim, calçados,
Têm asas que voam, esse é o nosso caminho!

As angustias e tristezas, são certezas de alegria,
Percebe-se e sente-se que momento, é fantasia,
Aguas que passam, desentopem nossa artéria,
A matéria-prima, decide por ficar doce e sadia!

Sai-lhe das cores, nodoas incolores, não existiram,
Sente-se na camisa estampada do soor do teu amaço,
Mancha uniforme, redonda, penetrante que a queiram,
Corações em sopros sufocantes, que deram este laço!

Transpirações, pelo encontro de meus sonhos antigos,
Vi-te de longe e apreciei tão de perto, a cor desse rosto!

Autor: António Benigno
Código de autor: 2013.04.24.02.09

Olhei o exterior, a descoberto, no costume dos dias,
Olhar de lince, penetrou perante os espetros ocultos,
Tudo aquilo que se via, imaginava real, o que fazias,
E porque o era, nada mudava afinal nesses vultos!

Sem medos, nem costumes delirantes, tudo era normal,
As sombras não se escondiam nas penumbras do dia,
Nem o sol deixou de brilhar no pleno dia que eu vivia,
Acordar de criança, desejoso de o ser, como água termal!

Perdeu-se o tempo, constrangido com riscos e desafios,
Falava-se de tudo e para todos, sem nosso silêncio crismal,
Aquelas vestes de antigamente, tribunal, hoje é ponto final!

E a realização dos sonhos são isso, desafios lógicos e sentimentos,
Delira o corpo, com o satisfazer da mente, coisas duradouras e belas,
Se cresce desejo, se sonho quando te vejo e aprecio teus encantos,
Solto-me no ar, voando e planando, pelas nossas vestes, paralelas!


E longe te aperto aqui, mundo que conheci, seguro no bolso,
Seu fecho de saco impermeável e por demais, mais durável,
Aquece-me o presente, com sonhos para futuro, sustentável,
E, teus sonhos, meus, minha, vida tua é sem troca ou reembolso!

Autor: António Benigno
Código de Autor: 2013.10.02.02.26

Ich have y-don al myn youth
anonymous Middle English lyric, circa the 13th to 14th century AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I have done it all my youth:
Often, often, and often!
I have loved long and yearned zealously ...
And oh what grief it has brought me!

*

Original Middle English text:

Ich have y-don al myn youth,
Oftë, ofte, and ofte;
Longe y-loved and yerne y-beden –
Ful dere it is y-bought!

Keywords/Tags: Middle English, translation, medieval, rhyme, lament, complaint, youth, love, loved, longing, longed, grief, oft, often, zeal, zealous, zealously, desire, lust, passion, yearn, yearned, yearning, dear, dearly bought, purchased, cost, price, expense, expensive

Sem ti os dias são longos, passam longos e um vazio permanece em mim.
Sinto a tua falta, o teu amor, o teu carinho.
Uma tristeza imensa invade a minha alma e dilacera o meu peito.
Vem preencher este vazio com o teu nome, tu que estás perto e longe de mim.
Deixa-me sentir esta nossa doce amizade até ao perecer das eras.
Sinto o sangue fervilhar como que envenenado na espera constante do teu ser.
Mas, sinto agora a tua mão e nada mais está perdido.
Sinto agora a tua mão em meu auxílio, para me tirares desta fria desilusão.
E por mais vazia que seja esta distância, sei que sempre seguras-te a minha mão.
No meu peito habita agora uma doce esperança, e sei que um dia vou poder olhar nos teus olhos e dizer-te:
AMO-TE MÃE!