Page:Poems and ballads (IA balladspoems00swinrich).pdf/231

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
FRENCH OF VILLON.
215

THE DISPUTE OF THE HEART AND BODY OF
FRANÇOIS VILLON.

Who is this I hear?—Lo, this is I, thine heart,
That holds on merely now by a slender string.
Strength fails me, shape and sense are rent apart,
The blood in me is turned to a bitter thing,
Seeing thee skulk here like a dog shivering.—
Yea, and for what?—For that thy sense found sweet.—
What irks it thee?—I feel the sting of it.—
Leave me at peace.—Why?—Nay now, leave me at peace;
I will repent when I grow ripe in wit.—
I say no more.—I care not though thou cease.—