trobaire.org

a collection of literature from poets, bards, songwriters, and skalds in the SCA

Dame, de ta presence joi

olivier's picture
olivier
Poem (Canso): 
Dame, de ta presence joi
Qui tot me conforte,
Tant gran loial est ta foi!
T’haut vertu se porte
Plus douz el meillor,
Com l’assez fresche flor.
Comment te fais tels travails,
Que rare sont atenté?
De t’ame tu ne fails
Tot d’aver supporté.
Cist bien et cist honor
Sont del chascun t’amor!
Te leve com une baniere
Afin rallons a’t pris,
Por que te voil je merciere
Qu’el te portes quant ris.
Mantient tu gran valor
Et t’avras mon amor!
Translation: 
Lady, I rejoice of your presence
Which comforts me completely,
So loyal is your faith!
Your high virtue carries itself
The sweetest and the best (of all),
Like the very freshest flower.
How do you perform these works
That are (otherwise) so rarely attempted?
You never betray yourself (your soul)
In all that you have supported.
This goodness and this honor
Are (mirrored in) your love of everyone.
Lift yourself like a banner
So that we may rally to your quality,
For I wish to thank you
For that (burden) which you bear while laughing.
Maintain your great valor (nobility)
And you will have my love!
Documentation / Explanation (Razo): 
This piece imitates in structure (alternating septosyllabic and sextosyllabic lines and an ABABCC rhyme scheme) Thoinot Arbeau's "Belle qui tiens ma vie." It was commissioned by Mistress Rosalind Jehanne for the Pelican ceremony of her apprentice, (then) Lady Ysolt la Bretonne, who is a tremendous fan of fifteenth and sixteenth century music (and rounds especially). This piece was to be sung during her procession before the throne; my master and mistress Efenwealt and Aenor would be singing with me. We wanted something with a recognizable melody (so that we wouldn't have to write one, and also so that Ysolt might be able to at least recognize a song she hopefully liked) and a fairly simple rhyming/metrical scheme.
I tried my best to write in Middle French - as best an estimation I could reach between Einhorn's Old French (geared toward 12-13th c. romances with a comprehensive grammar) and Cotgrave's 1611 Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (which doesn't provide quite the same easy-to-follow grammatical instruction as Einhorn). I goofed in a few places, having read the meter wrong (I tried to follow the musical notation where my French knowledge failed me, and as a result a few septosyllabic lines have sextosyllabic meter), but with only one or two very minor exceptions we fixed up the piece and pulled off the performance of it (having only enough time for the first verse) without much trouble.