Merciles Beaute: Geoffrey Chaucer Translation Poem by Michael Burch

Merciles Beaute ("Merciless Beauty")
by Geoffrey Chaucer
translation 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 my life and my death, my queen...
for at my death this truth shall at last be seen:
your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot sustain,
they wound me so, through my heart keen.