May Day: Strikes or Chaucer?

I could mention strikes, but I prefer a little Chaucer, a passage from The Knight's Tale, translated by A.S. Kline:



"So passed year on year, and day on day,

Until one morning in the month of May

Young Emily, she fairer to be seen

Than is the lily on its stalk of green,

And fresher than the May with flowers new –

For with the rose’s colour strove her hue;

I know not which was finer of the two –

Ere it was day, as she was wont to do,

She has risen, and dressed at first light,

For May will have no slothfulness a-night,

The season pricks at every gentle heart,

And makes it from its sleep begin to start,

And says: ‘Arise, perform your observance!’

And this made Emily rouse her remembrance

Of the honour due to May, and so to rise.

She was clothed fresh to watching eyes;

Her yellow hair was braided in a tress

Behind her back, a yard long, I guess.

And in the garden, as the sun up-rose,

She walked up and down, and as she chose

Gathered flowers, mingled, white and red,

To make a woven garland for her head,

And sang like an angel, as she went along".


(Translated by A. S. Kline © 2007 All Rights Reserved .

This work may be freely reproduced, stored, and transmitted,

electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose).

http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/CanterburyTalesII.htm

Some Corfu May Days, Long Ago

To finish, a photo by TeacherDude, May Day in Greece