| WITHIN the garden of Beaucaire | |
| He met her by a secret stair,— | |
| The night was centuries ago. | |
| Said Aucassin, "My love, my pet, | |
| These old confessors vex me so! | 5 |
| They threaten all the pains of hell | |
| Unless I give you up, ma belle";— | |
| Said Aucassin to Nicolette. | |
| |
| "Now, who should there in Heaven be | |
| To fill your place, ma très-douce mie? | 10 |
| To reach that spot I little care! | |
| There all the droning priests are met; | |
| All the old cripples, too, are there | |
| That unto shrines and altars cling | |
| To filch the Peter-pence we bring";— | 15 |
| Said Aucassin to Nicolette. | |
| |
| "There are the barefoot monks and friars | |
| With gowns well tattered by the briars, | |
| The saints who lift their eyes and whine: | |
| I like them not—a starveling set! | 20 |
| Who 'd care with folk like these to dine? | |
| The other road 't were just as well | |
| That you and I would take, ma belle!"— | |
| Said Aucassin to Nicolette. | |
| |
| "To purgatory I would go | 25 |
| With pleasant comrades whom we know, | |
| Fair scholars, minstrels, lusty knights | |
| Whose deeds the land will not forget, | |
| The captains of a hundred fights, | |
| The men of valor and degree: | 30 |
| We 'll join that gallant company,"— | |
| Said Aucassin to Nicolette. | |
| |
| "There, too, are jousts and joyance rare, | |
| And beauteous ladies debonair, | |
| The pretty dames, the merry brides, | 35 |
| Who with their wedded lords coquette | |
| And have a friend or two besides,— | |
| And all in gold and trappings gay, | |
| With furs, and crests in vair and gray";— | |
| Said Aucassin to Nicolette. | 40 |
| |
| "Sweet players on the cithern strings, | |
| And they who roam the world like kings, | |
| Are gathered there, so blithe and free! | |
| Pardie! I 'd join them now, my pet, | |
| If you went also, ma douce mie! | 45 |
| The joys of heaven I 'd forego | |
| To have you with me there below,"— | |
| Said Aucassin to Nicolette. | |
