Bertran de Born

 

 

 

Bertran de Born - Be·m platz lo gais temps de pascor

 

 

 

 

Be·m platz lo gais temps de pascor,

Que fai foillas e flors venir;

E platz mi qand auch la baudor

Dels auzels que fant retentir

Lor chan per lo boscatge;

E plaz me qand vei per los pratz

Tendas e pavaillons fermatz;

Et ai gran alegratge,

Qan vei per campaignas rengatz

Cavalliers e cavals armatz.

Well pleaseth me the sweet time of Easter

That maketh the leaf and the flower come out.

And it pleaseth me when I hear the clamor

Of the birds, their song through the wood;

And it pleaseth me when I see through the meadows

The tents and pavilions set up, and great joy have I

When I see o’er the campagna knights armed and horses arrayed. 

E platz mi qan li corredor

Fant las gens e l'aver fugir,

E plaz mi, qan vei apres lor

Gran ren d'armatz ensems venir;

E platz me e mon coratge,

Qand vei fortz chastels assetgatz

E·ls barris rotz et esfondratz,

E vei l'ost el ribatge

Q'es tot entorn claus de fossatz,

Ab lissas de fortz pals serratz

And it pleaseth me when the scouts set in flight the folk with their goods;

And it pleaseth me when I see coming together after them a host of armed men.

And it pleaseth me to the heart when I see strong castles besieged,

And barriers broken and riven, and I see the host on the shore all about shut in with ditches,

And closed in with lisses of strong piles.

Et atressi·m platz de seignor

Qand es primiers a l'envazir

En caval armatz, ses temor,

C'aissi fai los sieus enardir

Ab valen vassalatge.

E pois que l'estorns es mesclatz,

Chascus deu esser acesmatz

E segre·l d'agradatge,

Que nuills hom non es ren prezatz

Troq'a mains colps pres e donatz.

Thus that lord pleaseth me when he is first to attack, fearless, on his armed charger; and thus he emboldens his folk with valiant vassalage, and then when stour is mingled, each wight should be yare, and follow him exulting; for no man is worth a damn till he has taken and given many a blow.

Massas e brans, elms de color,

Escutz trancar e desgarnir

Veirem a l'intrar de l'estor,

E maint vassal essems ferir,

Don anaran aratge

Cavaill dels mortz e dels nafratz.

E qand er en l'estor intratz,

Chascus hom de paratge

Non pens mas d'asclar caps e bratz,

Car mais val mortz qe vius sobratz.

We shall see battle axes and swords, a-battering colored heaumes and a-hacking through shields at entering melee; and many vassals smiting together, whence there run free the horses of teh deadand wrecked. And when each man or prowess shall become into the fray he thinksno more of (merely) breaking heads and arms, for a dead man is worth more than one taken alive. 

E·us dic qe tant no m'a sabor

Manjar ni beure ni dormir

Cuma qand auch cridar: "A lor!"

D'ambas las partz et auch bruïr

Cavals voitz per l'ombratge,

Et auch cridar, "Aidatz! Aidatz!"

E vei cazer per los fossatz

Paucs e grans per l'erbatge

E vei los mortz qe pels costatz

Ant los tronchos ab los cendatz.

I tell you that I find no such savor in eating butter* and sleeping, as when I hear cried "On them!" and from both sides hear horses neighing through their head-guards, and hear shouted "To aid! To aid!" and see the dead with lance truncheons, the pennants still on them, piercing their sides.

Pros comtessa, per la meillor

C'anc se mires ni mais se mir

Vos ten hom e per la genssor

Dompna del mon, segon q'auch dir.

Biatritz d'aut lignatge,

Bona dona en ditz et en fatz,

Fons lai on sorz tota beutatz,

Bella ses maestratge,

Vostre rics pretz es tant poiatz

Qe sobre totz es enansatz.

 

Baron, metetz en gatge

Castels e vilas e ciutatz

Enans q'usqecs no·us gerreiatz. 
Barons! put in pawn your castles, and towns and cities before anyone makes war on us.

 Papiol, be glad to go speedily to "Yea and Nay," and tell him there's too much peace about.**

 

§ Pound's note in 1929: "This kind of thing was much more impressive before 1914 than it has been since 1920. The pageantry can still be found in the paintings of Simone Martini and of Paolo Uccello" (SR 48).

 

Editor's Notes:

* manjar ni beure ni dormir – Pound's translation is deficient here: [there is no savor in] eating, drinking or sleeping. Thanks to Dan Ungureanu for the correction (RP 8 June 2020).

 

** Pound's reference is to de Born's jongleur, Papiol. The poet sends him to Richard Lionheart, the subject of Maurice Hewlett's novel The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay (1900). RP.

 

REFERENCES

Bertran de Born. Be·m platz lo gais temps de pascor. Trobar.org.

Ezra Pound. "Well pleaseth me." Translation of Bertran de Born in The Spirit of Romance. New York: New Directions, 2005. 47-48.

The Fifth Decad

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