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Fair-Welcome, who hath been my friend,

Doomed (for that crime alone) to spend

Long days in durance, there to be

The prisoner of foul Jealousy?

Great thanks I owe that generous youth,

By whose kind courtesy forsooth

I passed the hedge and won a kiss

From that fair rose—the crown of bliss.

Ne’er from my mouth one single word

Shall ’gainst the God of Love be heard;

But I unceasingly will bless

And thank Fair-Hope and Idleness

For all the gentle courtesy

And grace their hands have shown to me.

No! ’tis my duty while I live.

That unto martyrdom I give

My body, but still hope to gain

The comfort Love hath promised; fain

Were I thereof, for ’tis the thing

Would once again make joyance spring

Within me. His sweet tenderness

To me these words did once address:

“Thy service willingly I take,

And will of thee a master make

In love, if thou oppose me not,

But long delays must be, God wot,

For fortune cometh not in haste,

And pain and suffering must thou taste

Ere thou attain’st the end;” and so

Thus speaking word for word, did show

The love he bare to me.

And now

My one desire it is to bow