The Courtly Lovers
Her eyes caught mine, and then her smile
Wrought tears from my heart, not blood:
From me she has flown, from afar loved unknown
A love unspoken, perhaps understood?
Yes, I adore thee, as Dante did Beatrice
Though saw you more than twice did I
We danced – danced but once together
We parted – the years pass slowly by.
No virtue caused my love to be spurned
A lady cannot spurn a love unspoken
It still stirs in my heart from time to time
The aching her Helen smile had awoken.
And from time to time, when to my eyes
The tears are held with blinking gaze
I shall remember the sweetness, the smile
And regret not stating love till the end of days.
I did for her no brave deeds
As knights did in days of old
Indeed I was not so brave of my love to speak
And my affections remained untold
Yet with each and every verse
My love for her I to the world declare
That is Gold, and that is Empty
She is but a fleeting vision fleeted from there
In my arms, where once we danced
And in the flittering drizzle we departed
She to a future new and bright
I to my apartment heavy hearted.
Perhaps that dance, was consummation
Of a love, a desire, never explored
I, a courtly lover, she a courtly maiden
She was the Beatrice that I adored.
We progressed, though we were never we
To abandonment, driven by the winds of life
Kisses never offered, but a dance the embrace
Lucky is he to have her as his wife
Should she be so, for to be braver than I
And accept kisses as a lover should
As reward from the basic bravery of man
To state his love for her like I never could.
I a knight errant in my own mind
Rode for two on an Aran lane
Unknown by her who sought to ride
And spoke to a faltering man of the same
She was on my mind as Atlantic waters
Sprayed a bitter salt onto my lips
Driven by a wind strong the breaking waves
To a fountain of spray the weather whips
Matching my emotions as of her I think
As I steer steed away from the beach
Hard is life, and always the hardest
Are the lessons of Love that time does teach.
– Helen smile – Helen of Troy, whose smile launched a thousand ships”