Page:Poems and ballads (IA poemsballads00swinrich).pdf/299

 Sat over all and drank chill wine alone. To whom is come Theophilus anon, And said as thus: Beau sire, Dieu vous aide. And afterward sat under him, and said All this thing through as ye have wholly heard. This Gabalus laughed thickly in his beard. Yea, this is righteousness and maiden rule. Truly, he said, a maid is but a fool. And japed at them as one full villainous, In a lewd wise, this heathen Gabalus, And sent his men to bind her as he bade. Thus have they taken Dorothy the maid, And haled her forth as men hale pick-purses: A little need God knows they had of this, To hale her by her maiden gentle hair. Thus went she lowly, making a soft prayer, As one who stays the sweet wine in his mouth, Murmuring with eased lips, and is most loth To have done wholly with the sweet of it. Christ king, fair Christ, that knowest all men's wit And all the feeble fashion of my ways, O perfect God, that from all yesterdays Abidest whole with morrows perfected, I pray thee by thy mother's holy head Thou help me to do right, that I not slip: I have no speech nor strength upon my lip, Except thou help me who art wise and sweet. Do this too for those nails that clove thy feet,