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songstersmiscellany:

“La Rousée du Joly Mois de Mai” [The Dew of the Lovely Month of May] by Jean Planson
Performed by the Toronto Consort 

Having read chapters six and seven of havingbeenbreathedout’s The Violet Hour, this piece seemed to fit, even though it was written and composed centuries before the time of that lovely fic.  Also placed here in celebration of the beginning of May.

Lyrics:

The dew of the lovely month of May
Has all wet my love and me.

It was at the very hour,
When the day began to break
With the lady I adore
I went to the woods to play.

And upon the pearly grass,
Without fear of the dew,
In the loveliest place of all,
So we sat us down, we two.

To the scent of flowering blossom
With a thousand birds singing
To sweet sounds of water flowing,
I tell of my suffering.

I tell her of the agonies
I suffer for loving her true;
Sighing soft, she listens to me,
Then tells of her torment too.

Just like her I start to sigh
Then fall to weeping her and I;
Silent, there’s nothing we can say
But kiss me or I shall die.

Then I clasp her and embrace her,
She kisses and holds me tight,
As closely as does the ivy
That holds the stone wall upright.

I give her a million kisses
Rewards for her misery,
She, in turn, surrenders to me
For to ease my agony.

So I steal a thousand kisses
She, in turn, undresses me;
I give her a hundred thousand,
She returns them, contentedly.

Now we frolic, I kiss her madly,
Her lovely silvery breast;
And now I suck so fondly
At her nipple strawberry-red.

Oh, my darling, she says to me,
You’ve wronged me enough today
All the while my ear she pulls,
And then she tweaks away.

Oh if you hurt me my darling,
I tell her, then I’ll pay you;
I am sure I’m stopping you from
Doing what you’d like to do.

Then I tell her another thing:
What it is, I’ll not say, though;
I’d never dare let you hear it,
Even if you’d love to know.

O such a wondrous day!
I’d not wish a king to be,
And such a pleasant dew
That wet us, my love and me!

I wouldn’t wish for an empire
In exchange for my amour.
I’m happier that I can say,
Now, now and for evermore?

Translation by Jill Rogoff.