October / Folgore de San Geminiano

from Of the Months

October

Next, for October, to some shelter'd coign
    Flouting the winds I'll hope to find you slunk:
    Though in bird-shooting (lest all sport be sunk),
Your foot still press the turf, the horse your groin.
At night with sweethearts in the dance you'll join,
    And drink the blessed must, and get quite drunk.
    There's no such life for any human trunk;
And that's a truth that rings like golden coin!
Then, out of bed again when morning's come,
    Let your hands drench your face refreshingly,
        And take your physic roast, with flask and knife.
Sounder and snugger you shall feel at home
    Than lake-fish, river-fish, or fish at sea,
        Inheriting the cream of Christian life.

~~
Folgore da San Geminiano (?1270-1332?)
translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
from The Early Italian Poets, 1861

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

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Folgore da San Geminiano biography
Dante Gabriel Rossetti biography

Relief of a medieval scene of three couples dancing. Wikimedia Commons.