Bieris de Romans to Lady Maria (first half of 13th c?)

[highlyeccentric]

Lady Maria, in you merit and distinction,
joy, intelligence and perfect beauty,
hospitality and honour and distinction,
your noble speech and pleasing company,
your sweet face and merry disposition,
the sweet look and loving expression
that exist in your without pretension
cause me to turn toward you with a pure heart.

Thus, I pray you, if it please you that true love
and celebration and sweet humility
should bring me such relief with you,
if it please you, lovely woman, then give me
that which most hope and joy promises
for in you lie my desire and my heart
and from you stems all my happiness,
and because of you I’m often sighing.

And because merit and beauty raise you high
above all others (for none surpasses you),
I pray you, please, by this which does you honor,
don’t grant your love to a deceitful suitor.

Lovely woman, whom joy and noble speech uplift,
and merit, to you my stanzas go,
for in you are gaiety and happiness,
and all good things one could ask of a woman.

(Trans. by Meg Bogin, in The Women Troubadours (Scarborough: Paddington Press, 1976), pp. 132-33)