What is the pot of truth to which we cleave?
Friendship is the balm that gets us through life
Soothes us when injured by all means of strife.
Whatever injury makes us now grieve
– For upsets and perils are always rife
What is the pot of truth to which we cleave?
Friendship is the balm that gets us through life
So turn to your friends and never you grieve
Be you troubled by husband, children, wife
True friends cut through troubles like a sharp knife
What is the pot of truth to which we cleave?
Friendship is the balm that gets us through life
Soothes us when injured by all means of strife.
© Andrew Wilson, 2025
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft invites us to write a Chaucerian Roundel with the following form:-
- 13 lines
- 3 stanzas divided into 3 lines (tercet); 4 lines (quatrain) 6 lines (sestet)
- rhyme scheme: A B1 B2/a b A B1/a b b A B1 B2
- usually 10 syllables per line as iambic pentameter
Postscript! – I wondered if there was a translator app. for Chaucerian (Middle) English and there is at https://openl.io/translate/middle-english
Here is Friendship translated…
What is the pot of soth to which we cleven?
Frendshipe is the baume that bringeth us thurgh lyf,
It soothen us whan we ben hurt by alle manere of stryf.
What so ever harm maketh us now to grieven
– For distresses and perils ben ever ryf,
What is the pot of soth to which we cleven?
Frendshipe is the baume that bringeth us thurgh lyf.
Therfore turn thee to thy frendes and never thee grieven,
Be thou troubled by husbonde, children, or wyf,
Trewe frendes sheren through wo as with sharp knyf.
What is the pot of soth to which we cleven?
Frendshipe is the baume that bringeth us thurgh lyf,
It soothen us whan we ben hurt by alle manere of stryf.
Bravo – a very uplifting Roundel – your refrain lines say it all.
Thank you Laura, as always, you take me into new technical territory…
The perfect line to echo through your roundel, Andrew; I agree that ‘friendship is the balm that gets us through life’. I’ve known my best friend since school.
I rest my case, Kim 😁
I love the message in this … friendship is the true glue in our life
It is indeed Bjorn, like so many friendshipss here at the pub…
I love your Roundel Andrew – this says it all:
‘Friendship is the balm that gets us through life
Soothes us when injured by all means of strife.’ ❤️
Thanks Anje 💜
Very well done, Andrew. A most enjoyable poem in the Roundel form.
Thanks Robbie, by the time I finished, the form had grown on me…
🥰
Well said and well fashioned poem, Andrew, and a thought worth being repeated.
People often write about lovers but lovers can come and go, but true friends remain…
Very true…
Thank you, Judy…
Friendship, the kind that lasts a lifetime, your roundel describes it perfectly, Andrew! In the past eight months, I have lost three of my closest friends, working through grief is tough. Thank you for reading my poem, leaving a comment.
I am sorry to hear of your loss, Helen, but I am sure you still commune with them internally… 💜
This is so true of friendship. Friends are gifts to treasure.
The Chaucerian version is quite cool. I did try to see my work translated into old English but I I had to pay for that, and I was too cheap to do so. 🙂
I didn’t have to pay so I have sent you an email with yours translated – hope it gets through to you, Imelda…
Nice write and I like the translation too. Mine didn’t translate too well when I tried it.
Thanks Shaun – still, its fun to see it translated. Imagine the uses – resignation letters; Dear John letters 🤣
You’re so right about friendship. I like how you wrote the poem using oldere language, like “be you troubled” and the translation to Middle English was delightful.
I find that sonnets, which are an even tighter form, sometimes lead to swapping the word order to get the rhyme at the end of the line leading to these archaisms… I am writing a collaborative poem with a friend in Pushkin sonnets where the specified rhymes have to be masculine (ultimate stress) and feminine (penulimate stress) in the right place and that has led to some curious lines I can tell you! We have just passed the 1,000 line mark 😱
True, true and well done!
Thanks, Judy!
I love the Middle English.
Me too, my words were close enough to make the app work well…
Friendship 💜