triplum When Love entered my heart
That first time, She so very sweetly
Wished to make my heart fall in love,
That She sent a look my way,
And gave me feelings of deep love,
With Sweet Thought:
Hope
That I’d receive
Mercy without being refused,
But never as long as I’ve lived
Has She ever intended to embolden me;
And so She makes me in my desiring
Have thoughts so filled with love,
That by the strength of desiring
My joy must change to torment,
If I do not possess courage.
Alas! and I cannot find any,
Because Love
Has no intention
Of providing me with any help,
As She keeps me so tightly in her nets
That I cannot escape them;
Nor do I want to, since as I await
Her mercy, my humble wish is
To endure all these pains;
And if faithful Love consents
That my sweet lady with her noble appearance
Might wish to call me her friend,
I know
It as the truth
That I shall, endlessly, possess
The joy that Love owes a perfect lover
As a reward for his ills;
But she waits too long,
And I love so foolishly
That I do not dare beg for mercy,
For I prefer living in the hope
Of soon receiving mercy,
Rather than Refusal coming to finish me off,
And so I say with a sigh:
It is great folly to love so much
That you make your sweetness bitter.
motetus
Love and perfect beauty
Make me doubt
And dissemble
Perfectly,
As does true Desire, who inspires me
To love you,
Sweetheart,
With endless love;
And since I love so purely
I beg mercy
From you,
If only it might be granted me
Without diminishing your honour,
For I’d prefer this kind of languishing
And dying as well, should it please you,
To harming in any way
Your honour, which I so highly esteem,
Either by deed or thought.
tenor
Very bitter.
English: R Barton Palmer © 2015