Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/77

Rh

So her companions showed beside

Her dazzling beauty’s winsome pride.

Than this fair damsel who shall find

A nobler face or gentler mind,

Or one who would more worship gain

Should she as Queen or Empress reign?

Beside her stood a valiant knight,

Who knew to choose his words aright

Whene’er he spake; well loved seemed he

Of her who bare him company.

Well skilled in feats of arms, his grace

Showed forth alike in form and face.

Then, Idleness came near to me,

Whose hand I took most willingly

To join the dance. Erewhile I’ve said

How fraught with grace and goodlihead

She was, and she ’twas raised the pin

That kept the wicket, and within

The close through her I entrance gained,

My trembling heart set free and fained.

HE last that lingers in my mind

Is Youth, to all but pleasure blind.

No more than twelve short years, I ween,

This innocent maiden yet had seen

Of good or ill, and looked to be

Still in her first simplicity.