31. Two men may love one woman or two women one man. <\/font><\/p>\nSelections from troubador poets (Provencal)<\/p>\n
>When I See The Lark Beating<\/span><\/em><\/strong> (From the Original Language, Provencal) <\/span>When I see the lark beating <\/span>Its wings in joy against the rays of the sun <\/span>That it forgets itself and lets itself fall <\/span>Because of the sweetness that comes to its heart, <\/span>Alas! Such great envy then overwhelms me <\/span>Of all those whom I see rejoicing, <\/span>I wonder that my heart, at that moment, <\/span>Does not melt from desire. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nAlas! How much I thought I knew About love, and how little I know, <\/span>Because I cannot keep myself from loving <\/span>The one from whom I will gain nothing. <\/span>She has all my heart, and my soul, <\/span>And herself and the whole world; <\/span>And when she left, nothing remained <\/span>But desire and a longing heart. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nI have never had power over myself Nor been by own man from the very hour <\/span>When she let me see into her eyes, <\/span>Into a mirror that pleases me so much. <\/span>Mirror, since I saw myself in you, <\/span>I have been slain by deep sighs, <\/span>That I have lost myself just as the handsome <\/span>Narcissus did in the fountain. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nI despair of ladies; I will never trust them again; <\/span>As I used to defend them <\/span>Now I shall abandon them, <\/span>Because I see no one who does any good for me <\/span>Against her who destroys and confounds me, <\/span>I fear and distrust them all, <\/span>Because I know very well that they are all alike. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nShe really shows herself to be a woman in this, My lady, for which I condemn her; <\/span>Because she does not want what she should want, <\/span>And what she shouldn’t do, she does. <\/span>I have fallen on an evil grace, <\/span>And I have indeed acted like the fool on the bridge <\/span>And I do not know how this happened to me, <\/span>Unless I tried to climb too high on the mountain. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nMercy is indeed lost, And I never knew it, <\/span>Because she, who ought to have most of it, <\/span>Has none, and where will I look for it? <\/span>Ah! It would never seem, when looking at her, <\/span>That she would let this love-sick wretch, <\/span>Who will never be well without her, <\/span>To die, without helping him. <\/span>
\nSince these things will never bring me good from my lady, <\/span>Neither prayers, pity, nor the rights I have, <\/span>Nor is it a pleasure to her <\/span>That I love her, I will never tell her again. <\/span>Thus I part from her and give her up. <\/span>She has slain me, and through death I will respond, <\/span>And I go away, since she does not ask me to stay, <\/span>Wretched, into exile, I know not where. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nTristan, you will have nothing more from me, For I go away, wretched, I know not where. <\/span>I will withdraw from singing and renounce it, <\/span>And I hide myself from joy and love. <\/span> <\/font><\/p>\nQuan chai la fuelha (When the leaf sings)<\/span><\/em><\/strong> <\/span>When the leaf sings <\/span>from the highest peaks <\/span>and the cold raises, <\/span>withering the kernel and willow, <\/span>of its sweet refrains <\/span>I see the wood grow dumb; <\/span>but I’m close to love, <\/span>whosoever might leave it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nEverything is iced, but I cannot freeze <\/span>because a love affair <\/span>makes my heart lush again; <\/span>I should not shake, <\/span>because Love covers and hides me <\/span>and makes me preserve <\/span>my merit, and leads me. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nLife is good, if joy holds it, <\/span>though some, whose things <\/span>do not go well, complain; <\/span>I don’t know how <\/span>to accuse my lot <\/span>since, by my troth, <\/span>I have my share of the best. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nAs of flirting, I don’t know what to blame, <\/span>and of the others <\/span>I spurn the togetherness; <\/span>since, of all her peers, <\/span>no one is like mine, <\/span>since there doesn’t seem to be one <\/span>who comes not after her. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nI don’t want my heart to join another love <\/span>lest she flees me <\/span>and turns her head elsewhere: <\/span>that even the one from Pontremoli <\/span>has one worthier <\/span>of her, or that so seems so. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nShe’s so kind, that the kindest thirty <\/span>she wins by her fair look: <\/span>that’s a good reason <\/span>for her to hear my songs, <\/span>because she’s so noble <\/span>and so preciously deserving. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nGo, then, song, show before her: <\/span>if it were not so, <\/span>you wouldn’t deserve Arnaut’s toil. <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\nAnc ieu non l’aic, mas elha m’a (I don’t hold it, but it holds me)<\/span><\/em><\/strong> <\/span>I never held it but it holds me <\/span>all the time in its bail, Love, <\/span>and makes me glad in anger, fool in wisdom <\/span>as one that never can fight back, <\/span>because one who loves well cannot defend himself. <\/span>’cause love commands <\/span>that men serve and soothe it: <\/span>for which I expect, <\/span>suffering, <\/span>a good reward, <\/span>whenever it is granted. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nI tell little of what’s in my heart: fear makes me silent and scared; <\/span>tongue hides but heart wants <\/span>what on which, in pain, broods so: <\/span>I languish, but I do not complain <\/span>because so far <\/span>as the sea embraces the earth <\/span>there’s none so kind, <\/span>actually, <\/span>as the chosen one <\/span>for whom I long. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nI so know her value, certain and true, that I cannot turn elsewhere; <\/span>I do so that my heart aches, <\/span>when the sun sets and rests: <\/span>I don’t dare say who inflames me; <\/span>my heart burns <\/span>but my eyes are fed, <\/span>because only <\/span>seeing her <\/span>has been left to me. <\/span>See, you, what keeps me alive!<\/span><\/p>\nFoolish is he who, for the sake of speech, turns his joy into pain, <\/span>because slanderers, God curse them, <\/span>never have a nice tongue: <\/span>one whispers, the other brays, <\/span>and so withdraws <\/span>