I. Neither winter nor spring delights me, nor sunny days, nor leaf of (kermes-)oak, for my advancement seems to me loss, and my greatest joy sorrow, and all my pleasures are sufferings, and my hopes are turned to despair; yet love and service of my lady were wont to keep me happier than a fish in water! And since I have parted from love, like one ruined and banished, every other (way of) life seems death to me, and every other joy desolation.
II. Since the flower of love is denied me, and the sweet fruit and the grain and the ear, in which I rejoiced with pleasant discourse, and by which I had glory and honour in abundance, and could take my place among the valiant, now am I fallen low from the summit; and did it not seem to me a foolish fear, no flame ever failed more quickly than I would have failed and been forlorn and lost in words and deeds the day there came to me the desolation that no striving of mine may diminish.
III. Fine warriors and stout fighters, sieges, catapults and pikes, and walls old and new pierced, and battalions and towers overwhelmed I see and hear; yet can I gain naught to avail me in my love! And, in rich armour clad, I seek out wars and frays and combats and am enriched by couquest; yet since the joy of love is refused me, the whole world (if I possessed it) would seem less than a garden to me, and my song no more consoles me.
IV. What then do conquest and riches profit me? For I held myself richer when, a faithful lover, I was loved, and had my fill of love beside my lord Engles; one single gracious gesture then charmed me more than here great lands and great possessions, for ever as my power grows, so the displeasure in my heart is greater, since my well-beloved Fair Knight and joy have withdrawn and fled from me, wherefore no more will comfort come to me, and so my spleen is greater and more burdensome.
V. Yet, though I am troubled and vexed, Valour does not command me so to gladden my enemies as to forsake glory and honour, for I can still do harm and good, and change my countenance from sad to gay, here among the Latins and the Greeks; and the Marquis, who girded me with the sword, is warring against the Wallachians and Drogobites, and never since the world was made has any people accomplished such feats as we, whom God has graciously delivered.
VI. The Marquis is thereby honoured and exalted, so too the man of Champagne and Count Henry, and Sicar, Modon, Salonika and Constantinople relieved, for (these men) well know how to be masters of the field, and this indeed can easily be shown: that never yet did any people attain such glory is apparent. By fine warriors, valiant and intrepid, has our empire been won, and may God send us (fresh) forces whereby our destiny may be fulfilled!
VII. Never did Alexander or Charlemagne or King Louis lead such a glorious expedition, nor could the valiant lord Aimeri or Roland with his warriors win by might, in such noble fashion, such a powerful empire as we have won, whereby our Faith is in the ascendant; for we have created emperors and dukes and kings, and have manned strongholds near the Turks and Arabs, and opened up the roads and ports from Brindisi to St. George’s Straits (Bosphorus).
VIII. By us will Damascus be assaulted, and Jerusalem conquered, and the kingdom of Syria liberated, for the Turks find this in their prophecies.
IX. He does wrong who maintains in courts those Crusaders, perjured and perfidious, who have deserted us here on the battlefield, for each one is worth less alive than dead.
X. Fair, gentle Engles, noble and bold, courteous, well-bred and distinguished, you are the inspiration of all my joys, and in living without you I perform a feat.
