Venice masks

Thursday, 30 November 2017

Sonet of Venus and Cupid - Mark Alexander Boyd

Fra banc to banc, fra wod to wod, I rin
Ourhailit1 with my feble fantasie,
Lyk til a leif that fallis from a trie
Or til a reid ourblawin with the wind.
Twa gods gyds me: the ane of tham is blind,
Ye, and a bairn brocht up in vanitie;
The nixt a wyf ingenrit2 of the se,
And lichter nor a dauphin3 with hir fin.

Unhappie is the man for evirmair
That teils the sand and sawis4 in the aire;
Bot twyse unhappier is he, I lairn,
That feidis5 in his hairt a mad desyre,
And follows on a woman throw the fyre,
Led be a blind and teichit6 be a bairn.

Mark Alexander Boyd (1563 -1601) Scotland
Source: Scottish Poetry Library
Less obvious dialect words:
  1. Ourhailit: overcome
  2. ingenrit: born
  3. dauphin: dolphin
  4. sawis: sows seed
  5. feidis: feeds
  6. teichit: taught

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