trobaire.org

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

Sonette XXXVI

olivier's picture
olivier
Poem (Canso): 

Despair hath overrun my very soul,
So that no more to right I set my mind.
My ravaged love hath by me been maligned!
Now what excuse have I me to make whole?
Her lack, her loss, can have no greater tolle
Than for me to wander in passion blind.
Let my life end as God has so designed,
But grant me peace from the loss of that goal
Which cost me all, of love and fellow man,
To leave me only with this cursed voice.
I will end thus, distraught as I began,
To cast away what once was my rejoice.
These verses are my last, as I am lost,
Giving my life to pay for love’s great cost.

Documentation / Explanation (Razo): 

Having nothing else to disassociate himself from, Orphos chooses to end his life for his error. In classical mythology, Orpheus spurned the company of women after the second loss of Eurydice, and wandered the countryside singing of his plight. He was torn to pieces by the Bacchae (female devotees of Bacchus/Dionysus) in their furor after their attempts to throw any number of otherwise-dangerous items at him failed, as even inanimate objects refused to strike Orpheus while he was playing music.