Ballad Xix Poem by Christine de Pizan

Lover I feel such sorrow now you go,
That I do not know if I can bear it.
My sweet secret love without you, oh,
How can I live? But one day even yet
Without seeing you
Has been so hard for me I neither knew
Ease, nor rest: how then can I survive
A year or more till I shall see you plain?
I know not even if I can stay alive,
For I’ve no joy till I see you again.

Lover must you travel the salt sea’s flow
So soon, and take my happiness? Is it
For honour’s sake? Then for me no sorrow:
But nothing indeed can bring me comfort
At losing you,
So long it will be till you are here anew,
I swear I’ll take no pleasure, all the while
That you are absent journeying far away,
God knows how much I shall weep and sigh!
For I’ve no joy till I see you again.

Simple in dress and adornment though,
Shall I pass by, and none shall credit
Me with pleasure, my secret none shall know
The grief I nurse, and indeed no comfort,
I speak true,
Can any man bring: so dark and dismal too
Will be my heart: and I could never buy
Anything that could ever ease my pain:
In this wearisome sadness I will lie,
For I’ve no joy till I see you again.

My sweet love, I’ll promise you that I
Will always feel so, wherever I stay.
What a hard and bitter year will be mine,
For I’ve no joy till I see you again.