A Stubborn Girl
Once as I, holy men of Christendom,
was making my way across a mountain,
wearing my old cloak
4 like a farmer yearning for summer,
I beheld a sprig of a maid
awaiting me on the moor.
I greeted her, mind gentle as a swan,
8 this wise amiable girl;
she answered her poet,
a loving reply it seemed to me.
We walked together like May-maidens,
12 she would not walk with any cold, unfeeling man;
I was straightforward with the fair maid,
as for a kiss, she, however, was less than straightforward;
I praised her sparkling eyes,
16 let handsome master-poets praise this girl;
I asked, before any troubles might befall me,
whether she desired me, to me she was heaven itself.
'You won't get an answer, lad from the region's brow,
20 for I don't know yet.
Let us come to Llanbadarn church on Sunday
or to the tavern, you presumptuous man,
and there in the woods
24 or in heaven we shall make a tryst.
Lest I be mocked, I wouldn't want
my presence in the birch-grove to be known.'
'I am taken for a coward regarding your love
28 but your wooer is a valiant man.
Don't hold back, [girl of] noble lineage,
because of that woman's dissension.
I know a greenwood mansion
32 that is unknown to others,
and no jealous man will ever know of it
so long as there's a mantle on trees and twigs.
Girl, I bid thee farewell,
36 guardian and thief of the grove.'
Not even a brazen hussy would treat her word
as she did, the cuckoo's niece;
a foolish promise made me glad,
40 the girl's tryst shall be a genuine vow.