Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/270



If in her anger    anything she stings.

So too a man's soul    soon shall die,

If that the body    becomes baser

By carnal desire,    unless there come first

Regret to his heart    before he from here goes.

XIX
Oh! sore is the folly,    consider it who will,

And full of peril    for every person,

That wretched mortals    utterly amazes,

And far from the right road    rapidly leads

Have you the will    to seek in the woodland

Bright red gold    among green trees?

Well do I know    that no wise man

Will seek it there,    since there it is not,

Nor look in vineyards    for lustrous gems.

Why do you not hang    nets on the hill-tops

When you would fain    fishes capture,

Salmon and herrings? It seems likely

That dwellers on earth,    all of them, know,

Men of sense,    that such live not there.

Will you go hunting,    with hounds follow,

In the salt sea,    when you would seek

Harts and hinds? Have you not knowledge

That such as these    you must seek in forests

More often by far    than out in ocean?

Marvellous it is    that all men know

That by the sea-shore    search must be made,