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English Lyrics of the XIIIth Century


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[section]
 1. 
1. Sunset on Calvary.
 2. 
2. Penitence for Wasted Life.
 3. 
3. ‘On God Ureisun of Ure Lefdi.’
 4. 
[4. Stabat iuxta Christi Crucem.]
 5. 
5. A Prisoner's Prayer.
 6. 
6. ‘Sumer Is Icumen In.’
 7. 
7. Now Comes the Blast of Winter.
 8. 
8. I Walk with Sorrow.
 9. 
9. Love's Madness.
 10A. 
10. Death's Wither-Clench. [A.]
 10B. 
[10. Death's Wither-Clench. B.]
 11A. 
11. Three Sorrowful Tidings. [A.]
 11B. 
[11. Three Sorrowful Tidings. B.]
 12A. 
12. Three Sorrowful Things. [A.]
 12B. 
[12. Three Sorrowful Things. B.]
 13. 
13. Memorare Novissima Tua.
 14. 
14. A Warning to Sir Eode.
 15. 
15. A Prayer to the Redeemer.
 16. 
16. Mater Salutaris.
 17A. 
17. Of One That Is So Fair and Bright. [A.]
 17B. 
[17. Of One That Is So Fair and Bright. B.]
 18. 
18. A Prayer of the Five Joys.
 19. 
19. The Lily with Five Leaves.
 20. 
20. Shroud and Grave.
 21A. 
21. Tell Me, Wight in the Broom. [A.]
 21B. 
[21. Tell Me, Wight in the Broom. B.]
 22. 
22. Gaude Virgo Mater Christi.
 23. 
23. The Ten Commandments.
 24. 
24. A Light Is Come to the World.
 25. 
25. The Bargain of Judas.
 26. 
26. The Journey of the Three Kings.
 27. 
27. Look on Me with Thy Sweet Eyes.
 28a. 
28a. Doomsday.
 28b. 
28b. Doomsday.
 29. 
29. The Latemest Day. [A.]
 29. 
[29. The Latemest Day. B.]
 30. 
30. When the Turf is Thy Tower.
 31. 
31. I Sing of One That is Matchless.
 32A. 
32. A Prayer of Penitence to Our Lady. [A.]
 32B. 
[32. A Prayer of Penitence to Our Lady. [B.]
 32C. 
[32. A Prayer of Penitence to Our Lady. [C.]
 33. 
33. Aspice Mitissime Conditor.
 34. 
34. Man's Leman on the Rood.
 35A. 
35. My Leman on the Rood. I. [A.]
 35B. 
[35. My Leman on the Rood. I. B.]
 36. 
36. My Leman on the Rood. II.
 37. 
37. My Leman on the Rood. III.
 38. 
38. Over the Bier of the Worldling.
 39. 
39. Will and Wit.
 40. 
40. Weal Is a Cursed Thing.
 41. 
41. The Five Blisses.
 42. 
42. An Antiphon of St. Thomas of Canterbury.
 43. 
43. Friar Thomas de Hales' Love Ron.
 44. 
44. Gabriel's Greeting to Our Lady.
 45. 
45. Jesus Sorrows for His Mother.
 46A. 
46. This World's Bliss Will Not Last. [A.]
 46B. 
[46. This World's Bliss Will Not Last. B.]
 47. 
47. Our Lady Sorrows for Her Son.
 48. 
48. ‘Vbi Sount Qui Ante Nos Fuerount.’
 49A. 
49. Dialogue between Our Lady and Jesus on the Cross. [A.]
 49B. 
[49. Dialogue between Our Lady and Jesus. B.]
 50. 
50. ‘Swete Ihesu King of Blisse.’
 51. 
51. ‘Le Regret de Maximian.’
 52. 
52. The Thrush and the Nightingale.
 53. 
53. What Love Is Like.
 54. 
54. A Springtide Song of the Redemption.
 55. 
55. A Prayer to the Mother of Mildness.
 56A. 
56. The Mind of the Passion. [A.]
 56B. 
[56. The Mind of the Passion. B.]
 57. 
57. Be Free with What Christ Sends.
 58. 
58. World's Bliss Have Good Day.
 59. 
59. A Hymn to the Heavenly Father.
 60. 
60. A Song to the Queen of Heaven.
 61. 
61. Mother Mild, Flower of All.
 62. 
62. Now Springs the Spray.
 63. 
63. A Spring Song of Love to Jesus.
 64. 
64. A Song of Sorrow for the Passion.
 65. 
65. An Orison of Penitence to Our Lady.
 66. 
66. I Will Become a Friar.
 67. 
67. A Bidding Prayer.
 68. 
68. Our Lady Help Us at Our Ending.
 69. 
69. In Sign of Love to Man.
 70A. 
70. Decem Precepta. [A.]
 70B. 
70. Decem Precepta. B.]
 71. 
71. Proprietates Mortis.
 72. 
72. A Song of Lewes.
 73. 
73. From Earth to Earth.
 74. 
74. On the Follies of Fashion.
 88. 
[88. A Prayer of Penitence to God Almighty. B.]

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46. This World's Bliss Will Not Last. [A.]

[_]

A. B.M. MS. Arundel 248.

[W]orldes blis ne last no throwe,
it went and wit a-wey anon;
þe langer þat ics it knowe
þe lasse ics finde pris þar-on,
for al it is imeind mid care,
with serwen and mid iuel fare,
and atte laste poure and bare
it lat man, wan it ginth agon.
al þe blis þis her and þare
bilocth at ende wep and mon.
79

Al þe blis of þese liue
þu salt, man, enden ine wep—
of hus and hom, of child and wiue.
sali man, nim þar-of kep!
þu salt al bileuen here
þeite war-of lord þu were;
wan þu list hup-on þe bere
and slapst þat suithe dreri slep,
ne salt tu haue with þe no fere
but þine werkes on a hep.
Al sal gon þat man hier houet,
and al it scal bicome to naut;
he þat hier no gud ne sowet,
wan othre repen he wrth bikaut.
þinc, man, forþi wilstu auest mithe,
þat þu þi gulte hier arithe,
and werche gud bi dai and nithe,
har þan þu be of liue laut.
þu nost wan crist hure drithe
þe hosket þat þe hauet bitaut.
Man, wi sestu þout and herte
o werldes blis þat nout ne last?
Wi þolstu þat þe softe ismerte
for þing þat is unstedefast?
þu lickest huni of þorn iwis,
þat seist þi loue o werldos blis
[OMITTED]
ful sore þu mith ben of-gast,
þat hier despendest heite a-mis,
to ben þar-þurew in-to elle cast.
80

þinc, man, war-to crist þe wroute
and do way prede and felthe and mud.
þinc wu dere he þe boute
o rode mid is swete blud;
im-self he gaf for þe ine pris,
to bein þe blis ȝif þu be wis.
bi-þinc þe þan, and up aris
of senne, and agin werchen gud
þar wils time to werchen is,
for siker helles þu art wud.
Scal no gud ben unforiolden,
ne no qued ne wrth unbout;
wan þu list, man, under molden
þu scalt auen as tu auest wrout.
biþinc wel forþi us ics rede,
and clanse of ecs misdede,
þat crist þe helpe at tine nede,
þat so dere hauet þe bout,
an to euene blisse lede
þat euere last and faillet nout.
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