Fidelity in Doubt

Guiraud Le Roux (1110–1147)

From the French by Harriet Waters Preston

COME, lady, to my song incline,

The last that shall assail thine ear.

None other cares my strains to hear,

And scarce thou feign’st thyself therewith delighted!

Nor know I well if I am loved or slighted;

But this I know, thou radiant one and sweet,

That, loved or spurned, I die before thy feet!

Yea, I will yield this life of mine

In every deed, if cause appear,

Without another boon to cheer.

Honor it is to be by thee incited

To any deed; and I, when most benighted

By doubt, remind me that times change and fleet,

And brave men still do their occasion meet.