The Girl's Beauty Defiled
The girl that I used to call my fine sweetheart
and my bright shining demure darling,
it is my intent, harsh wisdom,
4 to turn away from deceit with God's help,
[since] I have it in mind, everyone urges me,
to finish with her, birch trees claim her.
What reward have I had from wooing her?
8 Let this be a propitious time to finish with the girl.
The girl's colour has been spoiled
long since, severe punishment.
I cannot, I don't have the power,
12 no one can make good the girl's colour.
I am pondering, my pain,
I know it well, ever-increasing agony,
the gust and more
16 which ruins her cheeks entirely.
Sad Enid, the Jealous One's breath
from his black mouth does damage,
when the nasty man lets out, evil act,
20 (her beauty was like that of Eigr)
a breath like broom smoke
around her - why does the lovely girl not wash it off?
Leaving the oaf with the girl
24 is grief like the bond of a fetter.
A carving of alder wood coated in varnish,
a noble piece worked by an English craftsman,
evil blight from a fierce lantern
28 will ruin it completely, crooked thief.
Fine English fur
will go bad in peat smoke.
Mist in the air will deprive
32 the fair sun of all its colour.
A spreading oak branch, wooden palisade,
will wither at sea's edge.
I visited, meeting by bold force,
36 the girl's home as long as she was fair.
It is a stewardship, confined love,
only as long as she is fair, not a permanent inheritance.
She knows well how to cause her looks
40 to be scorned, she was my darling.
The cold Jealous One preferred,
black piece, that the girl was not fair.
Dust from his mouth defiled the colour
44 of my white exquisite little girl.
By God and Cadfan, protective grace
was needed; she was too fair.