Inconstancy
Some do nurture a hare
at home until it grows strong.
Far-journeying cat, swarthy-speckled head,
4 wild grey bundle whose lair is in swampy groves,
bold treasure of hillside and crag which bolts away,
wanderer of the undergrowth,
it will [still] be alien despite being nurtured.
8 It will climb up the verdant slopes of the hills.
If a squirrel should get to [climb to] the highest branches,
the profit for the one who nurtured it would be less:
bold deceit in the shelter of a half-crack,
12 devious flight, far from dreaded shaft.
You used to come to me, [cause of] much talk,
red chain, if you remember well,
(the hart's shelter is the edge of the slopes)
16 once when you were a weak creature.
Lively buck [now], keen dogs will hunt the enchanted deer,
[it's their] right in leafy hazel groves.
He dashes very wildly in icy wind,
20 shapely hart of very swift course.
The young deer would run [as far as] Iâl,
creature with bright white arse whose lair is in the bracken.
Taming them will be [a cause of] regret:
24 the three will dwell beneath the branches of the trees.
Deep trouble and painful loss,
they despise the place where they were reared.
So did [she of] the same colour as foam
28 with me in my presence,
she betrayed me, wily bedfellow,
as [she did] with another, love which imprisons.
Beams of the brilliant bright-fingered sun,
32 dress of fine linen over a crystal smock
and fur from the shores of the North Sea,
golden are her cheeks, gentle Mary,
I reared her, despised labour,
36 constant tune, from the age of eighteen.
I made song and [other] fine things
to try to please her.
Cautious nature, despite all that,
40 the loved one was worthless.