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Our songs in hall and market-place

Shall he chant forth with tuneful grace,

Couched in the tongue men use in France,

And all the world therewith entrance.

And those who list him willingly,

Of Love’s soft woes shall never die;

For if they do but read aright

The precious book his pen shall dight,

They may therein find plainly writ

All Love’s commands, and draw from it

Such counsels, that it well may pass

Henceforward as the looking-glass

For lovers, but therein no part

Shall bear dull Reason’s caitiff heart.

Therefore it is of you I ask

Good counselling to ease my task.

Beseeching you, palm joined to palm,

To pour on William Lorris balm

Of comfort in his loneliness,

Since well did he my faith confess;

And if for him I made no prayer,

Yet would I ask that John might share

Your powerful aid, that he may be

A wise, true servant unto me.

That he’ll be born I dare avow

As prophet; and moreover now

Pray ye for future lovers, who

Shall learn my full commandments through

His lore, and that by them may be

O’ercome all-hateful Jealousy,

And every fort she dares to raise

They may to bare foundations raze.