Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/252

218

To visit it with gentle breath,

And lull those blasts that tell of death.

One half the house stands high and straight,

The other poor and desolate;

And thus it seems as though it hung

Ready ere long to fall among

The rocks beneath.

One part so fair

And glorious looks, that man hath ne’er

Seen nobler mansion; walls and roof

Are wrought of one same warp and woof:

Silver and gold, with gems beset

Resplendent, (whence men oft-times get

Great virtue), never mortal eye

Saw palace built more gorgeously.

The other part is raised of mud

Commingled with decaying wood;

Thin fragile walls with many a flaw,

And broken roof of mouldering straw.

And thus, while scarce can words express

The symmetry and gorgeousness

That one side shows, the other mean

And rotten looks, within it seen

Five hundred thousand cracks and gaps

Betwixt the worthless bits and scraps

Whereof ’tis built, and to its base

It tottereth, as in parlous case.

Within this mansion, bright and drear,

Dame Fortune makes from year to year

Her home.

Whene’er she hath desire

The minds of mortals to inspire