Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/237

When one can make the gifts bear fruit;
Then largess doth with profit suit.
Such giving no man need repent,
Thereto I freely give consent.

Cupid’s bow As to that bow of rarest price
And shafts of subtle artifice,
You know their use and management
Better than Love himself who spent13770
His life thereon, no greater craft
Hath he the bow to bend, and shaft
To speed, than you; though oft you know
Nothing of where those shafts may go.
For when a shaft at random speeds,
Some one of whom the archer heeds
No jot, may by mere chance be hit,
But you are known to be so fit
And skilful when the bow you draw,
That scarce you need to list my saw.13780
You may, God helping, chance to wound
Some one whose conquest may be found
Much to your profit. Need is none
That I should lecture you upon
The different deckings and attire
Which often help a heart to fire,
Nor what therein your choice should be.
I should discourse but uselessly
If you recall that song of old
That from my lips hath often rolled,13790
As we together sat alone,
Of passionate Pygmalion.
You thence of dress much more may learn
Than plough-beasts know of sods they turn.