La danse aux aveugles :
The Dance of the Blind
In which three blind guides lead humanity on a merry dance.
Love, Fortune, Death, blind guides by turn,
Teach us their dance, with artful skill;
First, from Love's treacherous wiles we learn
To thread the maze, where'er Love will.
Then Fortune comes, whose tuneless measure
Bids us whirl and wind at pleasure,
Till, in the giddy dance, our feet
Lead us watchful Death to meet.
Thus follow all of mortal breath,
The dance of Fortune, Love, and Death.
Blind Fortune
“Moralite” — from La danse aux aveugles, a mixed poem/prose allegory by Pierre Michault, first published in 1465 and a favorite of illustrators*.
Specimens of the Early Poetry of France*: From the Time of the Troubadours and Trouvères to the Reign of Henri Quatre
translation by poet, novelist, travel writer, historian, and artist Louisa Stuart Costello*, 1835
Blind Love
Blind Death