The winter will lose its cold,
as the snow will be without whiteness,
The night without darkness,
the heavens without stars,
the day without light,
The flower will lose its beauty,
all fountains their water,
the sea its fish,
the tree its birds,
the forest its beasts,
the earth its harvest -
All these things will pass before
anyone breaks the bonds of our love,
And before I cease caring for you in my heart.
May your days be happy in number as flakes of snow,
May your nights be peaceful,
and may you be without troubles.

matthew of rievaulx - c. 1109-1167
The abbey of Rievaulx was the first Cistercian outpost in Northern England. Matthew was considered to be "a monastic writer who expresses himself more as a writer who happens to be a monk than as a monk who writes."
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