Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/162

Rh

And Shame and Fear were left alone,

Both trembling to the buttock bone,

Fear, low-voiced, with drooping head,

To Shame, her cousin, spake and said:

“Fair Cousin Shame, it sore doth fret

My soul to think we twain should get

Reproach for crime that was not ours.

Through April’s tears and Maytide’s flowers,

Long years we’ve passed devoid of blame,

Till Jealousy, the green-eyed, came

Brimmed with suspicions.

Let us go

Whither fell Danger lurks, and show

Clearly to him what mischief he

Hath done, that not more warily

He kept strict watch and ward. A fool

Was he to let Fair-Welcome rule

The Garden at his wont. ’Twere well

That we, in plain-set terms, should tell

To him his duty, and that he

Must mend his ways, or speedily

Betake him otherwhere. If so

It happed that Jealousy should grow

To hate him, then, beyond all doubt,

War should she wage, and thrust him out,

As guerdon of the feeble ward

And watch he kept the Rose to guard.”