Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
France: Vols. IX–X. 1876–79.

Coutras

The Death of Joyeuse

By Anonymous

Translated by Louisa Stuart Costello

BETWEEN La Roche and Coutras

Was heard our battle-cry;

And still we called, “To arras! to arms!”

Our voices rent the sky.

Our king was there with all his men,

And all his guards beside;

Within, the Duke de Joyeuse,

And to the king he cried:

“O, yield, King Henry, yield to me!”—

“What simple squire art thou,

To bid King Henry yield him,

And to thy bidding bow?”

“I am no simple squire,

But a knight of high degree;

I am the Duke de Joyeuse,

And thou must yield to me.”

The king has placed his cannon

In lines against the wall,—

The first fire Joyeuse trembled,

The next saw Joyeuse fall.

Alas! his little children,

How sad will be their fate!—

A nurse both young and pretty

Shall on them tend and wait;

And they shall be brave warriors

When they come to man’s estate.