Oh, to be a sparrow-hawk, a goshawk!
     I'd fly to my love,
     Touch her 'la sintil'' embrace her,
     Kiss her lips so soft,
Sweeten and soothe our pain 'dulur''

''Las, qu'i non sun sparvir, astur'' (), which translates "Oh, to be a sparrow-hawk, a goshawk!", is the

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

of an anonymous

Old Occitan Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label=Occitan language, Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteen ...

cobla The cobla (, plural ''cobles'') is a traditional music ensemble of Catalonia, and in Northern Catalonia in France. It is generally used to accompany the Sardana, a traditional Catalan folk dance, danced in a circle. Structure The modern Cobla no ...

'' (single stanza poem). It was found in the margins of an eleventh-century manuscript in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. Possibly it was added late in that century, certainly by a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

scribe. It was first published in 1984, and has been translated into French and English. In the poem the lover expresses erotic desire and the longing for fulfillment through his wish to be a

sparrow hawk Sparrowhawk (sometimes sparrow hawk) may refer to several species of small hawk in the genus ''Accipiter''. "Sparrow-hawk" or sparhawk originally referred to ''Accipiter nisus'', now called "Eurasian" or "northern" sparrowhawk to distinguish it f ...

or, which was more prized, a

goshawk Goshawk may refer to several species of birds of prey, mainly in the genus ''Accipiter'': * Northern goshawk, ''Accipiter gentilis'', often referred to simply as the goshawk, since it is the only goshawk found in much of its range (in Europe and N ...

so that he could fly to her. In the Middle Ages, the value of a sparrow hawk was proportional to its resemblance to the goshawk in size, strength and beauty. The symbolism of the male lover as hunting bird reoccurs in the troubadour lyric and in the

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...

Minnesang (; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who wr ...

'', Der von Kürenburc, ''Ich zôch mir einen falken'' (I trained a falcon). beginning a century later. The apposition of joy (''joi'') and grief (''dolor'') would become a mainstay of the troubadours.

Notes

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Bibliography

Pierre Bec Pierre Bec (; oc, Pèire Bèc; 11 December 1921 – 30 June 2014) was a French Occitan-language poet and linguist. Born in Paris, he spent his childhood in Comminges, where he learnt Occitan. He was deported to Germany between 1943 and 1945. Aft ...

. "Prétroubadouresque ou paratroubadouresque? Un antécédent médiéval d'un motif de chanson folklorique ''Si j'étais une hirondelle . . .''" ''Cahiers de civilisation médiévale'', 47 (2004):153–62. *William D. Paden. "Before the Troubadours: The Archaic Occitan Texts and the Shape of Literary History." ''"De sens rassis": Essays in Honor of Rupert T. Pickens''. Ed. by Keith Busby, Bernard Guidot, and Logan E. Whalen. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005, pp. 509–28. *William D. Paden and Frances F. Paden. ''Troubadour Poems from the South of France''. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2007. Occitan literature