Canso: Lanquan li jorn, Jaufre Rudel

When the days grow long in May

and birds sing sweetly far away,

when I'm cut off from there,

I remember her who's far away

and walk with eyes which grasp the ground,

for neither song nor hawthorne flower

please me more than frozen winter.

I hold my Lord in high esteem,

through whom I'll see my love from far away,

but for every good that comes,

two evils take its place, so far away

she is, Ai! were I

a pilgrim at her gate,

she'd set her eyes on my staff and rug.

What joy for me when I seek,

for Love of God, that far away

inn, and if she pleases, I will lodge

near her, and if I'm far away

now, then will speech be true.

When closeted with intimacy,

intimacy will have relief.

Angry, joyful, I'll depart

to see my love from far away,

but I don't know when we'll meet,

we walk in lands of distant ways.

There are steps and roads enough

to walk, and so I can't predict--

but it will be as God wills.

But I'll find no love or joy

without the joy of my love far away,

for I know none gentler, better,

north or south, near or far away;

so high is her true and fine worth

that upon Saracen earth

I'd be called captive for her.

God who made all that comes and goes

and formed this love from far away,

give me the power to have good heart

that I might see this love from far away.

Truly in such a lodging,

even a room or a garden

would ever seem a palace.

Who calls me crazy speaks the truth

desiring my love from far away,

for no other joy pleases so much

as joy for my love from far away;

but that which I wish is forbidden

for thus my godfather fated it--

that I must love and not be loved.

Whatever I wish for is forbidden.

May my godfather be cursed

who decreed I should not be loved.