Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/196

The woning of Age And where, deem’st thou, old age doth dwell?
To let thee know thereof were well
I trow, since thou must thither go
Unless in youth death lay thee low4800
Within his den, a dreary spot,
Dark, cold, and gloomy, well I wot.

Within Eld’s woning, Grief and Pain
Are lodged, and many a cruel chain
They bind around her limbs, and scourge^{[errata 1]}
Her limbs, and point dread death to urge
Her soul to penitence, and she
Remembereth, all too tardily
(Hoar-headed, reft of every tooth),
How she hath been deceived by Youth,4810
Who all her years of vigour spent
In folly; now doth she repent
Her wasted preterite, and would fain
By painful penance seek to gain
Future forgiveness of the sin
Committed long ago, and win
Sweet heaven thereby, and thus redeem
Those days, that now so worthless seem,
When youth and all its joyance drew
Her feet from virtue’s paths, and slew4820
Remembrance of how quickly pass
The glorious hours of youth; alas!
Too late she sees how brief a time
Endure those days of golden prime.

Now whenso lovers will to do
The work Dame Nature sets them to,

1. Correction: They bind around her limbs, and scourge should be amended to They bind around her, while they scourge: detail