I'm looking for a middle English poem, written in the 13th-15th centuries, which I only have in translation (to Hebrew).
The translated poem is found in a chapter that contains three additional poems, and one of them is Adam lay ybounden.
- Here is the English index page of the book. Note that it's listed under Geofrey Chauser, but most probably he didn't write this poem (nor Adam lay ybounden).
Translated back to modern English (by me, pardon the style and grammar), it goes something like this:
Mock Song
Have you left? Welcome!
Have you arrived? Goodbye!
Indeed there is no prettier woman than you,
Pure as a scarlet strawberry.
I crave to be near you
Of all girls.
I feel so sad when you come,
And once you're gone - my face brighten up!Once you're away five hundred miles,
I'll pray, for sure,
that no man, nor horse or mare,
would get you back here.
Your beauty I will not praise,
for what will everyone say? have pity!
Farewell, I despise you,
But please don't mock this song!
Note that though some words here seem to look promising (i.e., Googling them should have resulted in helpful results), like "strawberry", "mare", "five hundred miles", I couldn't find anything.
Here is also the Hebrew translation (added Nikkud only where needed):
שיר-לעג
הָלַכְתְּ? - ברוך בואךְ!
בָּאת? - להתראות!
הן אין אישה יפה ממך,
בָּרָה כְּתוּת בָּרֹד.
אני חושק בקרבתך
מכל הנערות.
כל-כך עצוב לי בבואךְ,
הלכתְּ - פניי אורות!כשאת נוסעת ת"ק פרסה,
לָךְ אתפלל, מובן,
ששום אדם, סוס או סוסה
לא יחזירוךְ לכאן.
את רוב יופייךְ לא אקלסה,
כי מה יאמרו? לִצְלַן!
שלום, עליי את מאוסה,
אך אל נא תלעגי לשיר דְּנָן!
EDIT:
To make it clear: the title "Mock Song" is my own translation.
I discovered that the poem was republished, and probably retranslated (can't confirm, because I don't have a copy of it) by the same Hebrew translator, under the name "A Song of Scorn" (see here).
Although the Hebrew translation has a rhyme scheme (1st verse is ABAB, 2nd is CDCD), and is written in the Common Meter. I'm not sure at all that the original has these as well, since the translation for Adam lay ybounden has an AABB CCDD rhyme scheme, while the original is completely different in that manner. This is why I didn't bother to rhyme my English "translation".
However, the Hebrew wordage is very close to the English for Adam lay ybounden, except for maybe three times where a "non-immediate" word was chosen.
The following are my "translations" (titles and content) for the other two poems that appear alongside that "Mock Song" and Adam lay ybounden (denoting a line break with
\
).
A song of complaint
Ho! Hey! Have no doubt:
She: "Quiet!" - And I shut up.Listen, young man, beware,
An old woman do not take.
I have, therefore I know what's it like.
She: "Quiet!" - And I shut up.Once I'm back from the field
She'll serve a stew in a punctured pot,
I have no courage to ask for the tiniest thing.
She: "Quiet!" - And I shut up.If from the lady I'll demand a bread,
She'll break my head with a stick,
Under the bed I'll go.
She: "Quiet!" - And I shut up.If for a meat I will call,
She'll break my head with a cauldron,
"You worth less than a barley!"
She: "Quiet!" - And I shut up.If some cheese I'll crave,
She, calmly: "Listen, you toddler,
You're just a weared dust!"
She: "Quiet!" - And I shut up.
Once my eyes weaken
Once my eyes weaken,
and my ears deteriorate,
and my nose frozen,
and my tongue folden,
and my face blanched,
and my lips blacken,
and my mouth distorted,
and my saliva drooling,
and my hair bristled,
and my heart trembled,
and my hand shaken,
and my leg stiffen,
late, late
the coffin at the gate;
then I'll step down from a bed,
lay down,
wrapped in shrouds
onto the coffin,
from a coffin to grave,
and the grave will be covered.
Above my nose my home shall rise,
and this world will be nothing for me.