National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. I'd like to make a poetry post a day this month, but whether I will or no remains to be seen (one a week seems more likely). But to begin, at least, I give you the opening to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.

(For more, Harvard has an interlinear translation of the prologue, Librarius.com has the full text with side-by-side translations, and this information on pronouncing Middle English is helpful. As an aside, I think this opening must win the prize for the longest opening sentence in literature.)