Dorigen 8 The Promise

Blind Cupid ensures the path of love is hard

And makes us long for what we cannot have.

Instead of any of the twenty girls or more

Who watched his every movement day by day

And dreamed of him by night,

Tristan fixed on Dorigen herself.

And so we complicate our lives,

When we choose husbands, or we look for wives.

We rarely make the choice that’s sound,

For love will always flit around,

And land wherever it fancies

Often for loss instead of gain,

And so the world is balanced out again.

To her he could not speak a word,

For months he suffered and endured.

Well yes, in some songs that he wrote and sang

He mentioned unrequited love,

But who doesn’t?

Sometimes when they were gathered in the dance,

For her friends had made her join them there,

He would steal a sidelong glance,

And sometimes look into her eyes,

But she danced on all unconcerned,

And unaware of what was in his mind.

But one evening when the dance was done,

Because he was her neighbour

And a man of fame and honour

Whom she had known some time,

By chance or by design they met.

They talked of this and that

And when he felt that he could take no more,

Tristan began as I shall tell you now.

‘Madam, the day your husband went away

Across the sea to England,

I wish that I had travelled too

To some place never to return.

I see so well my service is in vain.

My reward is just to be ignored.

Pity me, madam, pity me.

Have you not seen, can you not see,

What my love for you has done to me?’

She looked at him astounded.  Then she said,

‘Can I believe what I have heard?

Tristan, now listen hard.

By God that gave me soul and life

I will never be a faithless wife

In word or deed as long as I shall live.

I belong to the man who married me.

This is the only answer I will give.’

  

But seeing him so shocked and pale, she added with a smile,

‘Poor Tristan, since you take it so,

I will be your love

When along the coast of Brittany from end to end

Every rock and every stone is gone.

When the coast and cliffs mile after mile

Are cleared of all the jagged rocks, and every one

Lies buried deep beneath the sea.

These black rocks that men fear so much,

You must remove, so ships may sail

North to England or way down south to Spain,

And each one reach their longed for port in peace

And float at ease inside the harbour wall,

So all the sailors disembark unharmed  

To hug their family and friends again.

Yes, when you have cleared the coast of every stone

And every cursed sharp-edged rock

That lifts its ugly head above the sea,

Then you can surely come to me,

And as you wish I will love you,

And here you have my promise true.'

‘No pity more than that?’ he said.

‘No none’, she said. ‘For this can never be.

The rocks are there for all eternity!

Forget this nonsense!  Find a girl whom you can wed!

To think like this of another man’s wife,

Is madness, as you know full well.’

Tristan looked her in the eye and spoke,

‘To clear the rocks each and every one,

Madam, we know that this cannot be done.’

And saying this he turned away and left.

As he went slowly through the garden door,

Her friends came up to her at last

And walked with her along the garden paths,

Knowing nothing of what had passed.

They talked and played until the evening came,

And the flowers closed and shadows spread

Across the lawns, and all the well-mown grass

Began to glisten with the evening dew

And showed white droplets in the sun’s last rays.

And then they closed the garden door,

And to their homes they took their different ways.