[Ballade 60]
[Ballade 60]
Original Text
d' Orléans, Chalres. The English Poems of Charles of Orleans. Ed. Robert Steele and Mabel Day. London: Oxford University Press, (1940) 1970: 71.
1For dedy lijf deth y wite
2For ese of payne in payne of ese y dye
3For lengthe of woo/woo lengtith me so lite
4That quyk y dye/and yet as ded lyue y
5Thus nygh a-fer/y fele the fer is ny
6Of thing certeyne that y vncerteyne seche
7Which is the deth sith deth hath my lady
8O wofulle wrecche o wrecche lesse onys thi speche
9O gost formatt yelde vp thi breth attones
10O karkas faynt take from this lijf thi flight
11O bollid hert forbrest thou with thi grones
12O mestid eyen whi fayle ye not yowre sight
13Syn deth allas hath tane my lady bright
14And left this world without on to her leche
15To lete me lyue ye do me gret vnright
16O wofulle wrecche o wrecche lesse onys thi speche
17What is this lijf or deth y lede
18Nay certes deth in lijf is liklynes
19For though y fayne me port of lustihede
20yet inward lo it sleth me my distres
21For fro me fledde is ioy and alle gladnes
22That y may say in alle this world so reche
23As y/is noon of payne and hevynes
24O woofulle wrecche o wrecche lesse onys þhi speche
25Ther nys no thing sauf deth to do me day
26That may of me the woofulle paynes eche
27But wolde y dey/allas yet y ne may
28[O wofulle wrecche o wrecche lesse onys thi speche]
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh
RPO Edition
2009
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