Here is a real love poem, a simple ballad upon which I began working quite some time ago, but finished today:
Ballad: Abide, my Fair Mermaid
Abide, my fair mermaid, if so thee list,
That fain my tongue may play a blissful rhyme,
Those these my hands uncouth the harp have missed,
To know in cunning youthâs unstinting time.
What loom hath woven so thy mickle strands,
That as a waterfall oâer shoulder frame,
Each spun of fairy sleight in golden bands,
Thâ unsmoothĂšd edge or point its sting shall tame?
Or wit, what sheenâs rose purfleth hende thy cheek:
What privy beauteous craft thâ ilk stuff drew
That thou shouldst match that bloomâs enchantment meek,
Anointâd oâ the morrowâs tears of clearest hue?
Was chisel there that round thine eyen shope true,
To hew of earthen fathoms thâ azure loft,
To fill those balls of heavenâs cleanest blue,
That winged estate thy soul bewray might oft?
And when I came thee nigh, what winsome air!
ArĂĄbyâs flowâry breaths about thee keep,
Each drawn of draughts of meteless gardens fair,
Of rainbow hues, for royal grace to reap.
What, stint? If aught Iâve sung may naught thee list,
That should thy fairness bright and high bewray,
Then hark on this new worship done: I wist
Thy goddess soul my humble quill tâ assay.
Yea, man hath wrought of glass and wood and stone,
And set his hues and points in eyensâ windĂłw.
Yet so is craft and skill, and framed alone
In ghostly wit, and lacketh earthly stow.
Eke thou art craft, yet framed of ânother wright,
Yea wrought, and born, of twofold majesty,
For Hap hath quickened skill in thine own wight,
Like as that grace of royal dignity.
And soothly thou shalt live on henceforth sweet,
To earthly breathe, and live by beautyâs gift,
Yet though one day our flesh mote Hap escheat,
Thy song, like deathless seasâ flow, naught may shift.
Now spent and done is all my worshipâs verse,
Yet fain thine housâling lips I would have kissed.
My dear complaint I will eftsoons rehearse:
Abide, my fair mermaid, if so thee list.
This poem is Copyright 2005 Percival Koehl.
-Archaic Word Explanations-
abide = stay, wait
thee list = it pleases thee
fain = gladly
know = It has more of a sense of âbe acquainted withâ than âunderstandâ. It can also mean âto have sex withâ.
mickle = abundant, many
sleight = dexterity
point = detail, part
purfleth (to purfle) = decorates
hende = courteous, gracious
privy = secret
beauteous = beautiful; Pronounce as two syllables: âbiu-tâyusâ.
ilk = same
shope = shaped; The verb âto shapeâ was once a strong verb like speak/spoke/spoken. Its original part participle, shapen, survives in our adjective âmisshapenâ.
azure = In addition to being the colour of the blue sky, azure is also the heraldic term for the colour blue, and is a symbol of constancy and loyalty.
cleanest = purest
estate = condition, social rank
bewray = reveal
Araby = Arabia, traditionally known for exotic perfumes.
meteless = immeasurable
stint = cease
aught = anything
naught = nothing
worship = honour, praise (the word literally means âworth-shipâ)
wist = understood
assay = try
wrought = created, worked
eyen = eyes; I have used the old -n plural, reflecting the wordâs origin in Old English eagan.
ghostly = This word has a sense of âspiritualâ and âimmortalâ, as it did in Old English (as gastlic).
eke = also
wright = craftsman
twofold = double
Hap = Fortune, but it might also mean âNatureâ.
quickened = inspired, made living
wight = being, creature
royal dignity = âDignityâ has a complex meaning, and basically corresponds to âhigh office/positionâ. It is most commonly used archaically in legal terminology and jurisprudence when referring to the âcorporationâ of kingship in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.
soothly = truly
mote = must; the original present tense of this verb (Old English motan), was âmoteâ. âMustâ was originally the past tense of this verb.
escheat = In feudal terminology, an escheat is a reversion of land to the owner from someone who was leasing it, usually after the person dies.
shift = change
housâling (houselling) = being given communion and/or extreme unction. This image fits with the image of the mouth, which in some art (stretching back to the Middle Ages) is a symbol of the entrance to Heaven.
complaint = Somewhere between a complaint and a request; this word is common in Middle and Early Modern English and French in the language of a lover asking the beloved for something.
eftsoons = once again
rehearse = repeat