Sonnet I

Louise Labe 1525 (Lyon) – 1566 (Lyon)



What if the hero of the Odyssey
Had been like you, a man that's fair of face ?
Would he have had that easy-mannered grace,
Yet be the cause of so much agony ?

At any rate, your roving ways are sure
To make me count the weeks we've been apart,
And open gaping wounds within my heart,
This ailing heart which you alone can cure.

O ill-starred fate! A scorpion sting
Eats at my heart. I need a remedy
From the malicious beast that poisoned me.

I beg you, dear, just stop my suffering.
Come back to your true love, and let me lie
Clasped in your arms again, or let me die.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 20, 2023

34 sec read
157

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBA CDDC EAA EFF
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 563
Words 114
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3

Louise Labe

Louise Labé, also identified as La Belle Cordière, was a female French poet of the Renaissance, born in Lyon, the daughter of a rich ropemaker, Pierre Charly, and his second wife, Etiennette Roybet. A recent book has argued that the poetry ascribed to her was a feminist creation of a number of French male poets of the Renaissance. more…

All Louise Labe poems | Louise Labe Books

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