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I Take My Leave
Now Lords and Ladies blithe and bold,
To bless you here now am I bound:
I thank you all a thousand-fold,
And pray God save you whole and sound;
Wherever you go on grass or ground,
May he you guide
that nought you grieve,
For friendship that I here have found
Against my will I
take my leave.
For friendship and for favours good,
For meat and drink you heaped on me,
The Lord that raised was on the Rood
Now keep you comely company.
On sea or land where’er you be,
May he you guide
that nought you grieve
Such fair delight you laid on me
Against my will I
take my leave.
Against my will although I wend,
I may not always tarry here;
For everything must have an end,
And even friends must part, I fear;
Be we beloved however dear
Out of this world
death will us reave,
And when we brought are to our bier
Against our will
we take our leave.
Now good day to you, goodmen all,
And good day to you, young and old,
And good day to you, great and small,
And grammercy a thousand-fold!
If ought there were that dear ye hold,
Full fain I would
the deed achieve—
Now Christ you keep from sorrows cold
For now at last I
take my leave.
Text: Unknown 14th century English author,
translated by J.R.R Tolkien
Music ©2009 by Richard Schletty

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Notes
Melody, singing and music are
by Richard
Schletty.
The words are from "Gawain's Leave-Taking," a
partial translation by J.R.R. Tolkien of a medieval poem found
in a group of 14th-century lyrics with refrains in the Vernon manuscript
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The original poem has no connection
with Sir Gawain, although Tolkien, by assigning this title to the
poem extract, is clearly referencing Gawain's departure from the
castle of Sir Bertilak to go to the tryst at the Green Chapel.
Source: page 165, Sir Gawain and the Black Knight, Pearl and
Sir Orfeo, Translated by J.R.R. Tolkien. Published 1980 by
Ballantine Books, ©1975 George Allen and Unwin Ltd.
The unknown author of this poem uses the same ancient English alliteration
or "head-rhyme" that is found in "Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight." It is typical of the failed "Alliterative
Revival" of the 14th century. This particular form of alliteration
is not so much concerned with initial letters and spelling as it is
with the "ear-sounds" of stressed syllables within a line.
For a detailed analysis, see "Appendix on Verse-forms" in
the book cited above.
Vocabulary
Rood: the cross on which Christ was crucified
comely: pleasing appearance; beautiful
wend: proceed on or along; go
reave: seize, carry off forcibly
bier: portable coffin
grammercy: fr. Old Fr. grant merci: great
thanks
ought: var. of aught: anything
fain: happily; gladly
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