A Cassandre
Mignonne, allons voir si la rose
Qui ce matin avoit desclose
Sa robe de pourpre au Soleil,
A point perdu ceste vesprée
Les plis de sa robe pourprée,
Et son teint au vostre pareil.
Las ! voyez comme en peu d'espace,
Mignonne, elle a dessus la place
Las ! las ses beautez laissé cheoir !
Ô vrayment marastre Nature,
Puis qu'une telle fleur ne dure
Que du matin jusques au soir !
Donc, si vous me croyez, mignonne,
Tandis que vostre âge fleuronne
En sa plus verte nouveauté,
Cueillez, cueillez vostre jeunesse :
Comme à ceste fleur la vieillesse
Fera ternir vostre beauté.
The English translation isn't the same beauty as the French one, but one could still get some sense of what he meant when he said that famous "Mignonne, allons voir si la rose." The English translation is from (http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=13861)
Sweetheart, let us see if the rose
that only this morning unfolded
its scarlet dress in the sun
has lost, at vesper-time,
the folds of its scarlet dress
and its colour, so like yours.
Alas! See how rapidly,
Sweetheart, she has let
her beauty fall all over the place!
Nature is truly a cruel stepmother
when such a flower only lasts
from dawn to dusk!
So if you hear me, Sweetheart,
while your age flowers
in its greenest newness,
gather, gather your youth.
Age will tarnish your beauty
as it has faded this flower.
