Une vipere en cuer ma dame meint
Language: French (Français)
Une vipere en cuer ma dame meint
Qui estoupe de sa queue s'oreille
Qu'elle n'oie mon dolereus compleint:
A ce, sans plus, toudis gaite et oreille.
Et en sa bouche ne dort
L'escorpion qui point mon cuer a mort;
Un basilique a en son doulz regart.
Cil troy m'ont mort et elle que Diex gart.
Quant en plourant li depri qu'elle m'aint,
Desdains ne puet souffrir que oïr me weille,
Et s'elle en croit mon cuer quant il se plaint,
En sa bouche Refus pas ne sommeille
Ains me point au cuer trop fort;
Et son regart prent deduit ne deport
Quant mon cuer voit qui font et frit et art.
Cil troy m'ont mort et elle que Diex gart.
Amours, tu scez qu'elle m'a fait mal maint
Et que siens suy toudis, weille ou ne weille
Mais quant tu fuis et Loyauté se faint
Et Pitez n'a talent qu'elle s'esveille,
Je n'i voy si bon confort
Com tost morir; car en grant desconfort
Desdains, Refus, regars qui mon cuer art,
Cil troy m'ont mort et elle que Diex gart.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "My lady keeps a viper in her heart", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 180
My lady keeps a viper in her heart
Language: English after the French (Français)
My lady keeps a viper in her heart
Which plugs her ear with its tail
So that she does not hear my sad complaint:
For this, no more, it always watches and listens.
And in her mouth lies unsleeping
The scorpion which stings my heart to death;
A basilisk she has in her sweet glance.
These three keep death for me, and may God keep her.
When weeping I beg her that she would love me,
Disdain cannot allow her to wish to hear me,
And if she believes my heart when it complains,
In her mouth Rejection sleeps not
But instead stabs me too deeply in the heart ;
And her glance takes pleasure and enjoyment
When it sees my heart melt and fry and burn.
These three keep death for me, and may God keep her.
Love, you know that she has done me much harm
And yet I am hers always, whether she wishes it or not,
But when you flee and Fidelity weakens
And Pity has no desire to awake,
I see no comfort here so good
As to die quickly; for in great distress
Disdain, Rejection, glances which burn my heart
These three keep death for me, and may God keep her.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2015 by David Wyatt, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2015-01-13
Line count: 24
Word count: 206