Chaucer 'merciles Beaute' Translation Poem by Michael Burch

Merciles Beaute ('Merciless Beauty')
by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot sustain,
they wound me so, through my heart keen.

Unless your words heal me hastily,
my heart's wound will remain green;
for your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot sustain.

By all truth, I tell you faithfully
that you are of life and death my queen;
for at my death this truth shall be seen:
your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot sustain,
they wound me so, through my heart keen.

Original text:

Your yën two wol sle me sodenly,
I may the beaute of hem not sustene,
So woundeth hit through-out my herte kene.

And but your word wol helen hastily
My hertes wounde, whyl that hit is grene,
Your yën two wol sle me sodenly;
may the beaute of hem not sustene.

Upon my trouthe I sey yow feithfully,
That ye ben of my lyf and deth the quene;
For with my deth the trouthe shal be sene.
Your yën two wol sle me sodenly,
I may the beaute of hem not sustene,
So woundeth hit through-out my herte kene.

Geoffrey Chaucher (c.1340-1400) is generally considered to be the first major English poet and the greatest English poet of the Medieval Period. He is best known for 'The Canterbury Tales' but he was also a master of lyric forms such as the roundel. Chaucer has been called the 'Father of English literature'. He was the first writer buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Keywords/Tags: Chaucer, roundel, rondel, translation, medieval love poem, courtship, romance, romantic, romanticism, interpretation, modernization, merciless, beauty, heart, wound, keen, eyes, slay, sustain, words, heal, queen, life, death