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

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:13650
No idle life a damsel leads
Who makes her pleasures serve her needs.

Joys remem­bered 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,13660
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 be13670
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.