Sir Orfeo

|Sir Orfeo | |

| |WE read full oft, and find it writ, |
| |As ancient clerks give us to wit, |
| |The lays that harpers sung of old |
| |Of many a diverse matter told. |
| |Some sang of bliss; some heaviness; |
| |And some of joyand gladsomeness. |
| |Of treason some, and some of guile; |
| |Of happenings strange that chance |
| |            awhile! |
| |Of knightly deeds; of ribaldry; |
| |And some they tell of Faërie. 10 |
| |But of all themes that men approve |
||Methinks the most they be of Love. |
| |In Britain first these lays were wrought, |
| |There were they made, and thence were |
| |            brought. |
| |They told of venturous deeds and days, |
| |Whereof the Britons made their lays, |
| |For, an they heard astory told |
| |Of wondrous hap that chanced of old, |
| |They took their harp withouten fail, |
| |Made them a lay, and named the tale. 20 |
| |And of the deeds that thus befell |
| |A part, not all, is mine to tell; |
| |So hearken, lordings, true and leal, |
||The tale of Orfeo’s woe and weal. |
| |This Orfeo, he was king with crown, |
| |A mighty lord of high renown, |
| |A stalwart man, and hardy too, |
| |Courteous and free of hand also. |
| |His parents might their lineage trace |
| |To Pluto, and to Juno's race,30 |
| |Who, for their marvels manifold, |
| |Were held as gods in days of old. |
| |Now chief of all the arts that be |
| |Sir Orfeo loved good minstrelsy, |
| |He honoured much the harpers' skill, |
| |And harboured them of right good will. |
||Himself upon the harp would play, |
| |And set thereto his mind alway, |
| |Till such his skill that, far or near, |
| |No better harper might ye hear. 40 |
| |For never man of woman born, |
| |Altho’ for sorrow all forlorn, |
| |But an he heard Sir Orfeo play|
| |Forgot his heaviness straightway, |
| |And deemed himself in Paradise |
| |For joy of such sweet melodies. |
| |In Traciens Orfeo held his court, |
| |A city strong, a goodly fort, |
| |And with him reigned his queen so fair, |
| |DameHeurodis, beyond compare 50 |
| |The fairest lady, so I read, |
| |That ever ware this mortal weed; |
| |So full of love and gentleness |
| |That none might tell her goodliness. |
| |It was the coming in of May, |
| |When gay and gladsome is the day, || |Vanished the chilly winter showers, |
| |And every field is full of flowers, |
| |When blossoms deck the bough so green, |
| |And every heart is glad, I ween, 60 |
| |That Heurodis, the queen, was fain |
| |To take unto her maidens twain, |
| |And go forth on a...