Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/233

Rh

I lived once more. My body seems

Rejuvenate, as in sweet dreams

Sometimes appears. Now, by the rood,

I swear it does me untold good

To muse on youth’s sweet joys, though I

By men was cozened cruelly:

No idle life a damsel leads

Who makes her pleasures serve her needs.

Then to this country-side I came,

And service took beneath the dame

Who holds you here, and gives me charge

That hence you wander not at large.

The Lord, who guards us all from ill,

Grant that my duty I fulfil,

And doubt I not this well may be,

If you will walk but prudently.

The charge, forsooth, were one of rare

And special peril, seen how fair

Nature hath made you, if your wit

Did not your body’s beauty fit:

But you have prowess, sense, and grace;

And since that now both time and place

Serve us so well, nor need we fear

To suffer from intruders here,

’Tis well that you should list from me

Good counsel, but you need not be

Surprised to find my words but few.

No will have I to press on you

The theme of love and thereon preach.

But since that goal you’ll someday reach.