| Dirai vos senes duptansa | I will tell more boldly, braver, |
| D'aquest vers la comensansa! | From its start this poem savor! | |
| Li mot fan de ver semblansa! | These words have an honest flavor! | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Qui ves Proeza balansa | He whom prowess makes to waver | |
| Semblansa fai de malvatz. | Has a twisted, stinking smell. | |
| | |
| Jovens faill e fraing e brisa, | Youth is broken, crushed, decaying; | |
| Et Amors es d'aital guisa | Likewise Love, deceit displaying, | |
| De totz cessals a ces prisa, | Steals, all in his rule betraying | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Chascus en pren sa devisa, | Hearts his debt forever paying? | |
| Ja pois no?n sera cuitatz. | It is useless to rebel. | |
| | |
| Amors vai com la belluja | Love is like a spark that lighted | |
| Que coa?l fuec en la suja | In the soot and fumed, unsighted, | |
| Art lo fust e la festuja, | Till the wood and straw ignited | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| E non sap vas qual part fuja | No escape for those affrighted, | |
| Cel qui del fuec es gastatz. | Burnt by fire, and left a shell. | |
| | |
| Dirai vos d'Amor com signa! | I will tell how Love's a traitor, | |
| De sai guarda, de lai guigna, | Diplomat but agitator, | |
| Sai baiza, de lai rechigna, | Kissing now and smirking later. | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Plus sera dreicha que ligna | Purer Love would be, and straighter | |
| Quand ieu serai sos privatz. | If with me he came to dwell. | |
| | |
| Amors soli' esser drecha, | Love was true once, salve to fix you; | |
| Mas er'es torta e brecha | Now he's jagged, sharp; he sticks you, | |
| Et a coillida tal decha | With a twisted habit tricks you | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Lai ou non pot mordre, lecha | If he cannot bite, he licks you, | |
| Plus aspramens no fai chatz. | Cat's-tongue rough, to you impel. | |
| | |
| Greu sera mais Amors vera | Love's a lie, has been since ever | |
| Pos del mel triet la cera | Wax from honey he could sever, | |
| Anz sap si pelar la pera! | Peeling pears, adept and clever | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Doussa'us er com chans de lera | Sweet as lyre-song if, however, | |
| Si sol la coa?l troncatz. | His effects you undersell. | |
| | |
| Ab diables pren barata | He the devil's notice catches | |
| Qui fals' Amor acoata, | Who to fickle Love attaches, | |
| No?il cal c'autra verga?l bata! | But Love's torment no Hell matches! | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Plus non sent que cel qui?s grata | Love's as if you writhed with scratches | |
| Tro que s'es vius escorjatz. | Till your skin tore off and fell. | |
| | |
| Amors es mout de mal avi! | Love's born of a vile tradition, | |
| Mil homes a mortz ses glavi, | Killing hordes without munition? | |
| Dieus non fetz tant fort gramavi! | No more frightening magician! | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Que tot nesci del plus savi | Fools and sages yield submission, | |
| Non fassa, si?l ten al latz. | Crawling on his leash to Hell. | |
| | |
| Amors a uzatge d'ega | Love's a mare in heat's frustration, | |
| Que tot jorn vol c'om la sega | Nagging you without cessation, | |
| E ditz que no?l dara trega | Giving you no relaxation. | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Mas que puej de leg'en lega, | You can't break from her flirtation, | |
| Sia dejus o disnatz. | Not to eat or rest a spell. | |
| | |
| Cujatz vos qu'ieu non conosca | I know Love; he's overeager ? | |
| D'Amor s'es orba o losca | Blind or just a darkness-seeker? | |
| Sos digz aplan'et entosca, | Poisoned words from soothing speaker! | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Plus suau poing qu'una mosca | Than a fly his sting is meeker ? | |
| Mas plus greu n'es hom sanatz. | Harder, though, to cure its swell. | |
| | |
| Qui per sen de femna reigna | He who woman's weak direction | |
| Dreitz es que mals li?n aveigna, | Follows earns his own abjection, | |
| Si cum la letra?ns enseigna! | Say the Scriptures in collection! | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Malaventura?us en veigna | Woe to you if that subjection | |
| Si tuich no vos en gardatz | You do not completely quell. | |
| | |
| Marcabrus, fills Marcabruna, | Marcabru of luckless mother, | |
| Fo engenratz en tal luna | From his birth cursed to uncover | |
| Qu'el sap d'Amor cum degruna, | How love crumbles, how it smothers | |
| ?Escoutatz!? | ? Listen well! ? | |
| Quez anc non amet neguna, | He has never loved another | |
| Ni d'autra non fo amatz. | Nor been loved that he could tell. | |
| | |
| Marcabru | Carol Anne Perry Lagemann | |