The Minor Poems of John Lydgate :: :: University of Virginia Library

T]he world so wyde, the ayre so remeuable,
The ȝely man so lytell of stature,
The greue & þe ground of cloþyng so mutable,
The fyre so hote & subtyle of nature,
Watyr neuer in oon, what creature
Made of þese .iiij., whyche be so flyttyng
May stable be, here in hyr lyuyng?

24

Man of þe erþe haþe slouþe & heuynes,
Flux and reflux by water made vnstable,
Kyndely of ayre he haþ also swetnes,
Be fyre made hasty, wode, & not tretable;
To erþe ayene, by processe comparable,
Selde or neuer in oon poynt abydyng,
Howe shuld he þan be stable in lyuyng?

25

Fyre resolueth erthe to be watery,
And watery þynges fyre turneþ in eyre,
Makeþ harde þynges nesshe, and fyre eke naturall[y]
Makeþ nesshe þynges harde by his soden repeyr,
Though harde he ys þat shone bryght & feyre,

731

Whyche element haþe in man gret workyng,
How shuld he þan be stable in lyuyng?

26

Ayre of kynde yeueþ inspiracion
To mannys hert þyng most temperatyf,
And kyndly hete yeueþ respiracion,
Of subtyll, rare, & a gret medegatyf,
To tempre þe spyrytes by vertew vegetatyf;
And syþ þat ayre in man ys þus meuyng,
How shuld he þan be stedfast of lyuyng?

27

Watyr somwhyle ys congeylyd to crystall,
Colde & moyst as of hys nature,
Now ebbeþ, now floweþ, whyche in speciall
The myght of þe mone doþe her course recure,
And syþ þys element by recorde of scripture,
Ys oon of þe .iiij, compact of our makyng,
I wold enquere, what maner creature,
Made of þese .iiij, were stedfast of lyuyng?

Explicit.

[Iohn Lidgatt: Stow.]