IN TABERNA

Estuans interius

ira vehementi

in amaritudine

loquor mee menti:

factus de materia,

cinis elementi

similis sum folio,

de quo ludunt venti.

Cum sit enim proprium

viro sapienti

supra petram ponere

sedem fundamenti,

stultus ego comparor

fluvio labenti,

sub eodem tramite

nunquam permanenti.

Feror ego veluti

sine nauta navis,

ut per vias aeris

vaga fertur avis;

non me tenent vincula,

non me tenet clavis,

quero mihi similes

et adiungor pravis.

Mihi cordis gravitas

res videtur gravis;

iocus est amabilis

dulciorque favis;

quicquid Venus imperat,

labor est suavis,

que nunquam in cordibus

habitat ignavis.

Via lata gradior

more iuventutis,

inplicor et vitiis

immemor virtutis,

voluptatis avidus

magis quam salutis,

mortuus in anima

curam gero cutis.

Burning inwardly

with ardent wrath,

in rancor

I speak with deep feeling.

Made from substance,

the ashes of an element,

I am similar to a leaf

with which the winds play.

While it is truly fitting for

the wise man

upon stone to place

the seat of his support,

I, a fool, am similar

to a flowing river,

along the same course

never remaining.

I am borne as if

a ship without a sailor,

as through paths of air

a wayward bird is borne.

Chains do not hold me.

A key does not hold me.

I seek what is similar to me

and I am joined to the depraved.

To me, my heart's weight

seems a heavy thing.

A joke is refreshing

and sweeter than honey.

Whatever Venus bids,

the toil is sweet,

and she never 

in a listless heart resides.

I walk the wide road

in the fashion of youth,

entangled by vices and

heedless of my character.

Desirous of delight

more than of health,

dead in my spirit

I care for the flesh.

Cignus ustus cantat:

Olim lacus colueram,

olim pulcher extiteram,

dum cignus ego fueram.

Miser, miser!

modo niger

et ustus fortiter!

Girat, regirat garcifer;

me rogus urit fortiter:

propinat me nunc dapifer,

Miser, miser!

modo niger

et ustus fortiter!

Nunc in scutella iaceo,

et volitare nequeo,

dentes frendentes video:

Miser, miser!

modo niger

et ustus fortiter!

The roasted swan sings:

Once I lived on a lake,

once I appeared beautiful,

while I was a swan.

Woe, Woe!

Now charred

and roasted severely!

The servant turns and turns again the spit;

the pyre strongly roasts me,

the server now toasts me.

Woe, Woe!

Now charred

and roasted severely!

Now in the platter I lie,

and I am unable to fly,

I see teeth gnashing:

Woe, Woe!

Now charred

and roasted severely!

Ego sum abbas Cucaniensis

et consilium meum est cum bibulis,

et in secta Decii voluntas mea est,

et qui mane me quesierit in taberna,

post vesperam nudus egredietur,

et sic denudatus veste clamabit:

Wafna, wafna!

quid fecisti sors turpissima?

Nostre vite gaudia

abstulisti omnia!

I am the Abbot of Worldly Delights

and my monks are drunks,

and my wish is to be in the sect of dice rollers,

and who seeks me in the morning at taverns,

after vespers will come out naked,

and thus stripped of his clothes will cry:

Alas, Alas!

What have you done, most foul Luck?

From our life

you have snatched away all joys!

In taberna quando sumus,

non curamus quid sit humus,

sed ad ludum properamus,

cui semper insudamus.

Quid agatur in taberna,

ubi nummus est pincerna,

hoc est opus ut queratur,

sic quid loquar, audiatur.

Quidam ludunt, quidam bibunt,

quidam indiscrete vivunt.

Sed in ludo qui morantur,

ex his quidam denudantur,

quidam ibi vestiuntur,

quidam saccis induuntur.

Ibi nullus timet mortem,

sed pro Baccho mittunt sortem:

Primo pro nummata vini

ex hac bibunt libertini:

semel bibunt pro captivis,

post hec bibunt ter pro vivis,

quater pro Christianis cunctis,

quinquies pro fidelibus defunctis

sexies pro sororibus vanis,

septies pro militibus silvanis.

Octies pro fratribus perversis,

nonies pro monachis dispersis,

decies pro navigantibus,

undecies pro discordantibus,

duodecies pro penitentibus,

tredecies pro iter angentibus.

Tam pro papa quam pro rege

bibunt omnes sine lege.

Bibit hera, bibit herus,

bibit miles, bibit clerus,

bibit ille, bibit illa,

bibit servus cum ancilla,

bibit velox, bibit piger,

bibit albus, bibit niger,

bibit constans, bibit vagus,

bibit rudis, bibit magus.

Bibit pauper et egrotus,

bibit exul et ignotus,

bibit puer, bibit canus,

bibit presul et decanus,

bibit soror, bibit frater,

bibit anus, bibit mater,

bibit iste, bibit ille,

bibunt centum, bibunt mille.

Parum sexcente nummate

durant cum immoderate

bibunt omnes sine meta,

quamvis bibant mente leta,

sic nos rodunt omnes gentes

et sic erimus egentes.

Qui nos rodunt confundantur

et cum iustis non scribantur.

Io, io, io! …

When we are in the tavern,

we do not care about the grave,

but to gambling let us hurry,

for which we always sweat.

What is done in the tavern,

where money is the bartender,

this must be known,

so, what I say, let it be heard:

Some gamble, some drink,

some live indiscreetly.

But those who stay in the game,

from these, some are stripped bare,

some are dressed there,

some are clothed in rags.

There no one fears death,

but for Bacchus they cast their lot:

First, for those rich with wine,

from this the libertines drink:

once, they drink for the captives,

after this, they drink thrice for the living,

four times for all of Christendom,

five times for the faithful dead,

six times for the vain Sisters,

seven times for the woodland brigands.

Eight times for the perverse friars,

nine times for the dispersed monks,

ten times for the sailors,

eleven times for the quarrelers,

twelve times for the repentant,

thirteen times for the vagabonds.

So for the pope as for the king,

they all drink without law.

Drinks the mistress, drinks the master

drinks the soldier, drinks the clergy,

drinks that man, drinks that woman,

drinks the servant with the maid,

drinks the lively, drinks the lazy,

drinks the pure, drinks the wicked,

drinks the hermit, drinks the wanderer,

drinks the coarse, drinks the wise.

Drinks the pauper and the sick,

drinks the exile and the stranger,

drinks the lad, drinks the aged,

drinks the bishop and the deacon,

drinks the sister, drinks the brother,

drinks the grandmother, drinks the mother,

drinks that one, drinks that man,

drinks a hundred, drinks a thousand.

A trillion coins would scarcely 

suffice, when wantonly

everyone drinks with no end.

Though they drink with merry minds,

nonetheless all the gentry slanders us,

and thus we will be impoverished.

And those who slander us, let them be foiled,

and let them not be inscribed among the just.

Io, io, io!!