Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/93

Rh

He knows to handle; straightway flew

The shaft therefrom, which right well knew

Its deadly billet; through my heart

Quick pierced the golden-headed dart,

And on my forehead ice-cold sweat

Burst forth, and ne’er can I forget

How ’neath my fur-trimmed doublet spread

Chill shuddering as my life were sped.

Pierced by the fatal shaft I fell

Supine to earth; ah! woe to tell

How sudden faintness seemed to seize

My heart, the while I felt my knees

Give way, and when from out the swoon

I woke, felt feeble as the moon

Looketh in glare of day. I thought

To see blood flow, but when I sought

The wounded spot ’twas clear and dry.

Thereto both hands did I apply.

And strove, ’mid sighs and groans, to draw

The shaft from out the cruel flaw:

But, misery me, although the bole

I drew from out the fatal hole,

The iron barb, which Beauty hight,

Remained therein, fast-fixed, and tight

Past power to move it, yet no gout

Of crimson life-blood welled thereout.

Ah! then what anguish and distress.

What grief twice told, what heaviness,

I suffered: reft of speech I stood

Distrustful where or how I could

Some leech discover, or what herb

To seek that might or cure or curb

My grievous hurt.