When Love is Known

When love is known and passion grows

Between a man and his sweet rose,

The heavens above and the earth beneath

To both lovers, do great joy bequeath,

But the ways of a man and maid no-one knows.

Love is as mysterious as the wind that blows

And those who love not, should not suppose   

That they understand why love flows

When love is known.

For love is mysterious as the wind that blows

And love itself has highs and lows.

And must be nurtured, for time is a thief

That must be countered by firm belief

In the God of love who true love bestows

When love is known.

The poem form is a Rondeau, a 13^th century French court song. The rondeau’s form is not difficult to recognize: as it is known and practiced today, it is composed of fifteen lines, eight to ten syllables each, divided stanzaically into a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet. The rentrement consists of the first few words or the entire first line of the first stanza, and it recurs as the last line of both the second and third stanzas. Two rhymes guide the music of the rondeau, whose rhyme scheme is as follows (R representing the refrain): aabba aabR aabbaR.