Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte Edited from the Fairfax MS. 16 (Bodleian) and the additional MS. 29,729 (Brit. Mus.) by Ernst Sieper |
 |
|
Here maketh the auctour a descripcion of al hir Meyne and first of hir povnys. |
 | Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte |  |
Here maketh the auctour a descripcion of al hir Meyne and first of hir povnys.
Her povnys all, y yow ensure,I-forged wern of oo mesure,
Wroght and made by crafte ful clene
Al of Emeraudys grene,
And lych as I vnderstood
The first[e] povne, which that stood
On hir ryght hand, was callyd youthe,
Which in his sheeld, as yt ys kouthe,
Bare a cressaunt Mone shene,
To declare, thus I mene,
That youthe in his grene age
Varieth ofte of corage,
Redy for to chaunge sone
After the nature of the mone;
But of chaunge the properte
Longeth nat, in no degre,
162
They be so stable and so sure
In ther trouthe to persever,
For ther hertys chaunge never,
Wher they be set, they wil abyde,
They voide chaunge to ben her gyde,
Ther sect ys no thing lunatyke,
Nor of kynde they be nat lyke
To no monys that be wane,
They turne nat as doth a phane
With vnwar wynde, god forbede
That ther sholde in womanhede
Ben any monyssh tache at al,
But stedfaster than ys a wal
In what thing that they ha to don.
They be nat lyche the hornyd moon
That kan encrese and wanse ageyn,
Swiche a faute was neuer seyn
In woman yet afore thys tyme;
They hate that any newe prime
Wer founden in her kalender,
They be so perfyt and enter
And stable in her sykernesse,
That cloude noon of doubilnesse
Eclypse may the clere lyght,
Nor difface the bemys bryght
Of her trouthe, which wanseth never
But in hys fulle lasteth ever,
Nat lyke the mone but the sonne,
That fadeth with no skyes donne,
Ryght so the bryghte bemys glade
Of her trouthe dooth never fade.
| Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte | |