 | The Night Raven |  |
Mistaking in the darke.
Chaucer , amongst his merry iests doth write,Of one that went a woing in the night,
It being extreame darke, as darke might be,
Vnto the widdowes window commeth he,
And there intreats her fauour for a kisse,
And she affords him, such a one as t'is,
Opening the casement, to her clownish friend
She turnes out to his lips her lower end,
Which past away for currant in the darke,
A better man might so mistake the marke,
And like to him haue goe away with thankes.
Well this was one of Chaucers widdows pranks.
But we haue diuers night men now a daies,
That in the darke become such wilfull straies,
When they should goe vnto their wiues chast bed,
Doe get vnto the maids, in mistris stead.
And so the auntient prouerbe doth allow,
That Ioanes as good, as is my lady now,
But he whose honest wife cannot suffice him
I wish the Surgeons tooles might circumcise him.
| The Night Raven | |