Merciles Beaute

I

Your yen two wol slee me sodenly;
I may the beautee of hem not sustene,
So woundeth hit throughout my herte kene.

And but your word wol helen hastily
My hertes wounde, while that hit is grene,
    Your yen two wol slee me sodenly;
    I may the beautee of hem not sustene.

Upon my trouthe I sey you feithfully
That ye ben of my lyf and deeth the quene;
For with my deeth the trouthe shal be sene.
    Your yen two wol slee me sodenly;
    I may the beautee of hem not sustene,
    So woundeth it throughout my herte kene.

II

So hath your beautee fro your herte chaced
Pitee, that me ne availeth not to pleyne;
For Daunger halt your mercy in his cheyne.

Giltles my deeth thus han ye me purchaced;
I sey you sooth, me nedeth not to feyne;
    So hath your beautee fro your herte chaced
    Pitee, that me ne availeth not to pleyne.

Allas! that Nature hath in you compassed
So greet beautee, that no man may atteyne
To mercy, though he sterve for the peyne.
    So hath your beautee fro your herte chaced
    Pitee, that me ne availeth not to pleyne;
    For Daunger halt your mercy in his cheyne.

III

Sin I fro Love escaped am so fat,
I never thenk to ben in his prison lene;
Sin I am free, I counte him not a bene.

He may answere, and seye this and that;
I do no fors, I speke right as I mene.
    Sin I fro Love escaped am so fat
    I never thenk to ben in his prison lene.

Love hath my name ystrike out of his sclat,
And he is strike out of my bokes clene
For evermo; [ther] is non other mene.
    Sin I fro Love escaped am so fat,
    I never thenk to ben in his prison lene;
    Sin I am free, I counte him not a bene.

Explicit

1)  The poem, like "Against Women Unconstant," is generally thought to be Chaucer's, though its single manuscript source (Pepys 2006) does not specifically attribute it to Chaucer.  Its ideas are so thoroughly filled with the sentiments associated with what modern scholars call "courtly love" that it could well be a good imitation of such a poem using Chaucer's typical vocabulary.  The third stanza, alone, contains a rejection of the high language and self-abasement typically found in those other poems, a strategy which we might find elsewhere in Chaucer.

2)  "Pitee" and "Daunger" were coded concepts in medieval love poetry, the former being the yielding, compassionate force that causes those who are loved to treat their lovers gently, and the latter being the hard, alienated force that causes the Beloved to reject, or even to refuse to notice the Lover.  Both commonly are allegorized, as in Roman de la Rose, begun by Guillaume de Lorris and completed by Jean de Meun, and translated into Middle English by Chaucer.

The text of this poem is based on F. N. Robinson's second edition.