HEU QUE MISEROS TRAMITE. — Metrum 8
"Allas! Whiche folie and whiche ignorance mysledeth
wandrynge wrecchis fro the path of verray good! Certes ye ne seke
no gold in grene trees, ne ye gadere nat precyous stones in the
vynes, ne ye ne hiden nat yowre gynnes in heye mountaignes to
kacchen fyssche of whiche ye mai maken riche festes. And if yow liketh
to hunte to roos, ye ne gon nat to the foordes of the watir that
highte Tyrene. And over this, men knowen wel the krikes and the
cavernes of the see yhidde in the flodes, and knowen ek whiche
watir is moost plentevous of white peerlis, and knowen whiche
watir haboundeth moost of reed purpre (that is to seyn, of a
maner schellefyssche with whiche men deien purpre), and knowen
whiche strondes habounden most of tendre fysches, or of scharpe
fyssches that hyghten echynnys. But folk suffren hemselve to ben
so blynde, that hem ne reccheth nat to knowe where thilke goodes
ben yhud whiche that thei coveyten, but ploungen hem in erthe,
and seken there thilke good that surmounteth the hevene
that bereth the sterris. What preyere mai I make, that
be digne to the nyce thoughtes of men? But I preie that thei
coveyten rychesses and honours, so that, whanne thei han geten
tho false goodes with greet travaile, that therby they mowen
knowen the verray goodes.
