Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LAYS OF FRANCE: SONG (1) by MARIE DE FRANCE

First Line: O LOVE, WHERE IS THE BED WE MADE
Last Line: —LET US GO BACK ONCE MORE!
Subject(s): LOVE; SIN;

O Love, where is the bed we made
In scented wood-ways for sweet sin?
The sun was with us and the shade;
The warm blue covered us in:

All men their curse on us had laid—
Finding had slain us both therein;
But, summer with us, not afraid
Were we to love and sin.

O Love, the crushed place is quite fair;
Leaves have sprung back and flowers grown there;
The blithe trees no long record bore;
The flown bird knoweth no more;

The hard one never found our lair;—
We are not slain, Love,—we are fair,
And love, ay, as we loved before:
—Let us go back once more!



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