Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/196

162 And where, deem’st thou, old age doth dwell?

To let thee know thereof were well

I trow, since thou must thither go

Unless in youth death lay thee low

Within his den, a dreary spot,

Dark, cold, and gloomy, well I wot.

Within Eld’s woning, Grief and Pain

Are lodged, and many a cruel chain

Her limbs, and point dread death to urge

Her soul to penitence, and she

Remembereth, all too tardily

(Hoar-headed, reft of every tooth),

How she hath been deceived by Youth,

Who all her years of vigour spent

In folly; now doth she repent

Her wasted preterite, and would fain

By painful penance seek to gain

Future forgiveness of the sin

Committed long ago, and win

Sweet heaven thereby, and thus redeem

Those days, that now so worthless seem,

When youth and all its joyance drew

Her feet from virtue’s paths, and slew

Remembrance of how quickly pass

The glorious hours of youth; alas!

Too late she sees how brief a time

Endure those days of golden prime.

Now whenso lovers will to do

The work Dame Nature sets them to,