Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/279

Rh

From Fortune; and if thou too weak

Feel for this triple bond, I’ll seek

To spare thy strength, and will but ask

One simple boon, to light thy task.

List then my first demand; if thou

Thereto with ready heart wilt bow,

Then shalt thou from the other two

Be freed.

Unless thy mind askew

Be turned as one who’s drunk or mad,

Thou’lt see that he whose soul is clad

In Reason’s garb must needs despise

Fortune and Love in carnal guise.

My well-loved friend, great Socrates,

Was one who scorned the vanities

Of Fortune and of Love alike,

God grant his great example strike

Thy heart, and make it one with mine,

And nought for this, as I opine,

Is lacking but thy word. Grant this,

My first request, and then, ywis,

Thou of the other two art quit,

Unglue thy lips, and therefrom flit

Thy answer—does thy heart agree?

Cry yea! and thou shalt find thee free

From further quests. Serve me alone,

Nor suffer treacherous love to wone

Within thy breast.

Cupid hath trapped

Thy courage, and thy memory sapped,

And round thy spirit’s eyes doth bind

A web whose woof obscures thy mind.”