the original was written in latin by alain de lille (1120-1202).
every creature of the world is to us as if a book and a painting and a mirror, a faithful seal of our life, our death, our condition, our lot. the rose paints our condition, a fitting gloss of our state, a reading of our life. which, when at first it blooms, the deflowered flower withers with evening old age. therefore the breathing flower expires, while it wanders into pallor, dying as it is born. at once old and new, at once old man and girl, the rose withers as it rises. thus the springtime of human age, in youth's first morning, re-blooms a little. yet this morning is shut out by life's evening, while it closes life's twilight. whose beauty, while it harangues, its splendor soon is deflowered, the age wherein it ebbs away. the flower becomes hay, the gem mud, man ashes, while man pays tribute to death. whose life, whose being are punishment and toil, and it is necessary to close life with death. thus death closes life, grief [closes] laughter, shadow [closes] day, wave [closes] harbor; morning is closed by evening. against us first it makes an assault, bearing the face of death's penalty, toil, the actor of death. it sets us forth into toil, it takes us up into sorrow; the conclusion is death. therefore, shut in under this law, read your state, o man, consider your being. what you were, about to be born; what you are now, what you will be, examine carefully. mourn the penalty, lament the fault, rein the impulses, break the deed, put down the eyebrows. ruler and charioteer of the mind, rule the mind, channel the currents, lest they flow into byways.
translation notes at the end of the page.
omnis mundi creatura quasi liber et pictura nobis est, et speculum. nostrae vitae, nostrae mortis, nostri status, nostrae sortis fidele signaculum. nostrum statum pingit rosa, nostri status decens glosa, nostrae vitae lectio. quae dum primo floret, defloratus flos effloret vespertino senio. ergo spirans flos exspirat in pallorem dum delirat, oriendo moriens. simul vetus et novella, simul senex et puella rosa marcet oriens. sic aetatis ver humanae juventutis primo mane reflorescit paululum. mane tamen hoc excludit vitae vesper, dum concludit vitale crepusculum. cujus decor dum perorat ejus decus mox deflorat aetas in qua defluit. fit flos fenum, gemma lutum, homo cinis, dum tributum homo morti tribuit. cujus vita cujus esse, poena, labor et necesse vitam morte claudere. sic mors vitam, risum luctus, umbra diem, portum fluctus, mane claudit vespere. in nos primum dat insultum poena mortis gerens vultum, labor mortis histrio. nos proponit in laborem, nos assumit in dolorem; mortis est conclusio. ergo clausum sub hac lege, statum tuum, homo, lege, tuum esse respice. quid fuisti nasciturus; quid sis praesens, quid futurus, diligenter inspice. luge poenam, culpam plange, motus fraena, factum frange, pone supercilia. mentis rector et auriga mentem rege, fluxus riga, ne fluant in devia.
the translation should be a near-literal translation of the original latin, preserving its nuances and structure. the english should accurately reflect the original connotations with minimal additions, prioritizing fidelity to the latin over perfect clarity in modern english.
"defloratus" and "effloret": the latin juxtaposes defloratus ("stripped of flowers") with effloret ("blossoms"). this antithesis, operating on the level of sound as well as meaning, generates a paradox: life is simultaneously diminished and renewed. the image captures the transience of beauty, wherein flourishing already contains within itself the seed of its decline. in translation, one must try to preserve both the botanical metaphor and the temporal tension.
omitted verbs: several lines deliberately exclude verbs, creating compressed, almost epigrammatic juxtapositions:
order of nouns: the sequence consistently places the lighter or more positive term first, only to have it overwhelmed by the darker one that follows. this is not mere cause-and-effect but a staging of dominance, an "engulfing". the structure itself enacts the poem's theme: joy and vitality are fragile, forever overshadowed by grief and decline.