Original in Middle English | Word-for-word translation into Modern English[43] |
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Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote | When [that] April with his showers sweet |
The droȝte of March hath perced to the roote | The drought of March has pierced to the root |
And bathed every veyne in swich licour, | And bathed every vein in such liquor (sap), |
Of which vertu engendred is the flour; | From which goodness is engendered the flower; |
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth | When Zephyrus even with his sweet breath |
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth | Inspired has in every holt and heath |
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne | The tender crops; and the young sun |
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, | Has in the Ram his half-course run, |
And smale foweles maken melodye, | And small birds make melodies, |
That slepen al the nyght with open ye | That sleep all night with open eyes |
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages); | (So Nature prompts them in their boldness); |
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages | Then folk long to go on pilgrimages. |
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes | And pilgrims (palmers) [for] to seek new strands |
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; | To far-off shrines (hallows), respected in sundry lands; |
And specially from every shires ende | And specially from every shire's end |
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, | Of England, to Canterbury they wend, |
The hooly blisful martir for to seke | The holy blissful martyr [for] to seek, |
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke. | That has helped them, when [that] they were sick.
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