THE REGRETS OF THE HANDSOME HELMET WEARER
Already arrived at old age (voir le français page 199.) ' Methinks I hear a keen regret From her the helmet wearer gay, Who longs te be again a pet, And speaks in this sad mode to-day :
« Ah ! old age, cruel is thy sivay, « Why hast so soon abased me ; « From myself wounding who'll me stay « That I dont kill myself and flee.
« Thou'st taken from me the high charm « Which beauty had bestowed on me.
« Clerks, merchants, priests felt I could harm, « For then no man born there could be « Who would not all have giv'n as fee ; « Though of it he might much repent « If I had granted him while free « What rogues refuse e'en gratis lent.
« To many a man I've all refused, « Which was not wisdom on my part, « For love of one who me abused, « To whom I gave gifts and my heart.
' Les italiques indiquent les mots qui ne se trouvent pas dans l'original de Villon.
« Whilbl with the rest I used much art.
« I loved him by my soul though cold,
« But he was rude, oft made me smart,
« And only loved me for my gold.
« He could'nt so much maltreat me,
« Or crush me but Id still him love,
« Me to bear faggots een made he,
« If he said kiss me, pretty dove,
« And blows forget below, above;
« The glutton with all evil stained
« Embraced me w'ed be Imnd and glove !
« What's left shame — sin, myself disdained
« But he is dead years thirty past,
« And hoary I remain and old ; %
« I think of the good time aghast,
« What I was, what I now beholdl
« When I myself view bare and cold,
«' And see myself so changed and aged,
« Poor, dry, lean, mean, no longer bold,
« I feel myself almost enraged.
« What's now come of that forehead fair,
« Those eyebrows arch'd and looks so gay,
« Eyes wide apart, dear gaze, smart air,
« \NTiich made the artful feel my sway ;
« Straight nose, nor large nor small, they'd say
« Those tiny ears so neat, all said,
« Fork'd chin, clear face, charming each day,
« And those fair lips always so red.
« The forehead wrinkled, the hair grey;
« The eyebrows falFn, eyes quench'd with thought,
« Which once did looks and smiles display.
« By which the wicked ones were caught,
« The nose bent, with no beauty fraught
« Ears pendant, mossy, look so glum,
« Face pale, dead, stain'd — by care o'erwrought,
« Chin dark, and lips but skin become.
« Of human beauty 'tis the end;
« Short are the arms and shrunk each hand,
« The shoulders humpback'd low do bend,
« The breasts all wrinkled dont expand,
« The hips lean like the teats, when scanned.
« The good time thus we all regret, « Tween us poor ancient fools so plain, « Low squatting on our heels we fret, « All in a heap like thread balls vain, « Near fire of hemp stalks, damp with rain, « Soon lighted, soon extinct and done, « And we were once so hard to gain, « E'en thus fares many and many a one !
