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Poem 5, Balade [The Castoff Lady]

[Ch V; MS #241]



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5. Balade



Fauls Apyus, pires que Lichaon,
Sans foy, sans droit, compaignon de Judas,     
Cuers d’Erode, voulenté de Noiron,
Je vail Dido parlant a Eneas,
Lasse et deserte; ainsi laissie m’as
Seule, esgaree, ou de tous biens mendie
A cuer dolent et a couleur changie,
Plus que triste, de maulx avironnee.
Ma plaisance est voie desesperee.
En povreté gist la fin de ma vie,
Car cuer de pierre a perverse pensee.
Jone, m’amas, et vieille, m’as guerpie.

Usee suis et en chetivoisin,
Servant de ce dont jadis me gardas.
De moy veoir, abhominacion!
Par tez samblans te moustre plus que las.
Ou sont les chans que ja pieça chantas?
Ou est le temps que la flour fu queillie
Soubz le ruissel de la fontaine Helie?
De la liquer trop m’a descoulouree
Ou par tez dis j’estoie asseüree,
Desquelz je suis appertement trahie,
Car sans raison, de tristresse affublee,
Jone, etc.

Ma simplesce donna audicion
A ton faint cuer et tant que tu trouvas
Medee vraye. Or ay trouvé Jasson
En fausseté que ja ne laisseras.
Venus, Venus, trop est las le solas,
Car tes brandons ont ma coulour noircie.
Pourquoy ne fu l’aventure anoncie
Du bel Helaine et celui de Medee,
Quant tu me fis jadis l’amour celee
Qui a present me tolt plaisance lie?
Di moy pourquoy ou je suis esgaree.
Jone, m’amas, et vielle, m’as guerpie.

5. [The Castoff Lady]



False Apius, worse than Lichaon,
Without faith, without justice, fellow of Judas,
Heart of Herod, will of Nero,
I am like Dido speaking to Aeneas,
Dejected and deserted. Thus have you left me
Alone, lost, where I am deprived of all good,
With sorrowing heart and changed complexion,
More than sad, beset by evils;
My pleasure is a path of despair;
In poverty lies the end of my life,
For a heart of stone has wicked thought;
Young, you loved me, and old, you have cast me off.

I am spent and in misery,
Servant of that from which you formerly protected me.   
To see me, abomination!
By your looks you prove yourself worse than a wretch.
Where are the songs that you used to sing?
Where is the time that the flower was gathered
Beside the stream of the fountain of Helicon?
It stained me deeply with its waters
When by your song I was made confident.
By these I am openly betrayed,
Deprived of justice, shrouded with sadness.
Young, you loved me, and old, you have cast me off.

My innocence gave ear
To your deceitful heart until you found
A true Medea. Now I have found a Jason
In the falsity which you will never abandon.
Venus, Venus, your pleasure is too wretched,
For your torch has blackened my complexion.
Why was I not told the tale
Of the beautiful Helen and that of Medea
When earlier you incited me to the secret love
Which now takes joyful delight from me?
Tell me why I am thrown aside.
Young, you loved me, and old, you have cast me off.





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