Passerat: Love in May
OFF with sleep, love, up from bed,This fair morn;See, for our eyes the rosy redNew dawn is born;Now that skies are glad and gayIn this gracious month of May,Love me, sweet,Fill my joy in brimming measure,In this world he hath no pleasure,That will none of it.
Come, love, through the woods of spring,Come walk with me;Listen, the sweet birds jargoningFrom tree to tree.List and listen, over allNightingale most musicalThat ceases never;Grief begone, and let us beFor a space as glad as he;Time’s flitting ever.
Old Time, that loves not lovers, wearsWings swift in flight;All our happy life he bearsFar in the night.Old and wrinkled on a day,Sad and weary shall you say,‘Ah, fool was I,That took no pleasure in the graceOf the flower that from my faceTime has seen die.’
Leave then sorrow, teen, and tearsTill we be old;Young we are, and of our yearsTill youth be coldPluck the flower; while spring is gayIn this happy month of May,Love me, love;Fill our joy in brimming measure;In this world he hath no pleasureThat will none thereof.
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
- flitting n.
- A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- teen n.
- Grief; sorrow; affiction; pain. Chaucer. [OE. tene, AS. teóna reproach, wrong, fr. teón to accuse; akin to G. zeihen, Goth. gateihan to tell, announce, L. dicere to say. See Token.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Passerat: Love in May is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Passerat: Love in May, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/love-in-may.html, id L26906.
Form and metre
Passerat: Love in May is 40 lines in 4 stanzas of 10 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCDEED, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCC-DD- bedA · mornB · redA · bornB · gayC · mayC · sweet · measureD · pleasureD · it
- 2 ABABCCDBBD springA · meB · jargoningA · treeB · allC · musicalC · neverD · beB · heB · everD
- 3 ABABCCDEED wearsA · flightB · bearsA · nightB · dayC · sayC · iD · graceE · faceE · dieD
- 4 ABABCCDEED tearsA · oldB · yearsA · coldB · gayC · mayC · loveD · measureE · pleasureE · thereofD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| OFF with sleep, love, up from bed, | 7 | ······· |
| This fair morn; | 3 | ··· |
| See, for our eyes the rosy red | 8 | ··/··/˘· |
| New dawn is born; | 4 | ···· |
| Now that skies are glad and gay | 7 | ······· |
| In this gracious month of May, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Love me, sweet, | 3 | ··· |
| Fill my joy in brimming measure, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| In this world he hath no pleasure, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That will none of it. | 5 | ····· |
| Come, love, through the woods of spring, | 7 | ······· |
| Come walk with me; | 4 | ···· |
| Listen, the sweet birds jargoning | 8 | /˘···/˘˘ |
| From tree to tree. | 4 | ···· |
| List and listen, over all | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Nightingale most musical | 7 | /˘˘·/˘˘ |
| That ceases never; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Grief begone, and let us be | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| For a space as glad as he; | 7 | ······· |
| Time’s flitting ever. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Old Time, that loves not lovers, wears | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wings swift in flight; | 4 | ···· |
| All our happy life he bears | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Far in the night. | 4 | ···· |
| Old and wrinkled on a day, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Sad and weary shall you say, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| ‘Ah, fool was I, | 4 | ···· |
| That took no pleasure in the grace | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of the flower that from my face | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Time has seen die.’ | 4 | ···· |
| Leave then sorrow, teen, and tears | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Till we be old; | 4 | ···· |
| Young we are, and of our years | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Till youth be cold | 4 | ···· |
| Pluck the flower; while spring is gay | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| In this happy month of May, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Love me, love; | 3 | ··· |
| Fill our joy in brimming measure; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| In this world he hath no pleasure | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That will none thereof. | 5 | ····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.