Middle English Translations
These are my modern English translations of some of the very best Middle English poems.
This World's Joy
anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1300
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Winter awakens all my care
as leafless trees grow bare.
For now my sighs are fraught
whenever it enters my thought:
regarding this world's joy,
how everything comes to naught.
[MS. Harl. 2253. f. 49r]
