Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/271

Not one, but all would I embrace,
Could I but find fit time and place;
Giving to each in turn his due
Had I been equal thereunto;
And each had will, as I believe,
In turn my favours to receive:
All men faithless Prelate or monk except I not,
Nor knight, nor canon, sage or sot,14830
Burgess or friar, within my fold
All would I take, if not too old.
Religion they’d have cast aside,
Except they feared to be denied
When they should court me. If that they
Had only understood my way
Of thinking, as of women all,
Such fear they ne’er had let befall
Their hearts. Each one, had they dared,
I trow, had readily declared14840
Their wedlock void, that they to me
Might give themselves all utterly,
Religion spurning, and despite
Of oath or honour, faith or right,
Except perchance, ’twere some poor fool,
Who ne’er had let his love grow cool
For her whose heart he’d gained in youth.
Such one would courteously, forsooth,
Decline my love and turn to her
His well-beloved sweet comforter.14850
But lovers of that sort are rare.
By God and Saint Amand I swear,
If only opportunity
Of time and place were given to me