I held one more woman but, winning her,
Found fiery hope was a frost;
The wine tasted sharper than vinegar;
My lyrics their brilliance lost.
All over the mountain a rumour
Is spread with intent to defame,
Alleging my spirit is drooping,
My horse is off colour and lame.
Please note, I’ll have no one deliver
A funeral speech over me
Until I’ve held yet one more woman.
And then—what will be, will be!
Until one more horn I have emptied
And, making each feathered word sing,
I’ve trimmed my light arrow and sent it
Serene through the heart of the ring.
When fire and verse I have blended
And all of my readers agree
That what I have written is splendid…
Why, then—what will be, will be!
TARRY
Waking early with the sunrise,
To this rule, I beg you, keep:
Pause and recollect your slumber—
Did you laugh or cry in sleep?
From your window scan the weather—
Are the heavens dim or bright?
Does thick snow hide hill and heather
Or does sparkling rain delight?
If no avalanche has carried
Cottages on hell-bent course,
If there’s no alarum, tarry,
Do not leap astride your horse!
Leaving home, you should not alter
Rules established long ago:
Lead your horse out on a halter,
On foot to the boundary go.
Loth we are to use the bridle
When we take to horse and road.
On we race like royal riders,
Red spurs mercilessly goad.
From our brow the sweat comes pouring.
Shirts discoloured patches show.
On we race, cool streams ignoring,
Passing fields where flowers grow.
How to treat great words is something
We have mastered not at all.
Words to whisper on a mountain
In the open plain we bawl.
At each village, reining horses,
We should ask, ere we proceed:
«Are you marrying? Or mourning?»
And not gallop in at speed!
In this century not in duels
Men, unjustly slandered, fell;
With belated, sacred sorrow
Their true deeds we bravely tell.
So pronounce no hasty sentence
And no hasty prize bestow,
Lest repentance overwhelm you,
Glancing back along the road.
Boldness must its own self master.
Men, by fickle impulse led,
Walk back horseless from the battle
Or ride home without their head.