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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. B.]

[_]

B. Bodl. MS. Rawlinson G. 18.

Worldes blis ne last no þrowe,
hit wit ant wend a-wey a-non;
Þe lengur þat hich hit i-knowe
Þe lasse hic finde pris þer-on,
for al hit is imeynd wyd kare,
mid sorewe ant wid uuel fare,
ant at þe laste pouere ant bare
hit let mon, wen hit ginnet gon.
al þe blisse þis here ant þere
bi-louketh at hende wop ant Mon.
81

Al shal gon þat her mon howet,
al hit shal wenden to nout;
þe mon þat her no god ne sowet,
wen oþer repen he worth bikakt.
þenc, mon, forþi wil þu hauest mykte,
þat þu þine gultus here arikte,
ant wrche god bi day an nikte,
ar þen þu be of lisse ilakt.
þu nost wanne crist ure drikte
þe asket þat he hauet bitakt.
Al þe blisse of þisse liue
þu shalt, mon, henden in wep—
of huse ant home ant child ant wyue.
seli mon tak þer-of kep!
for þu shalt al bileuen here
þe eykte were-of louerd þu were;
wen þu list, mon, up-on bere
ant slepest a swyþe druye slep
ne shaltu haben wit þe no fere
butte þine werkus on an hep.
Mon, wi seestu loue ant herte
on worldes blisse þat nout ne last?
wy þolestu þat te so ofte smerte
for loue þat is so unstedefast?
þu likest huni of þorn iwis,
þat seest þi loue on worldes blis
for ful of bitternis hit is.
sore þu mikt ben ofgast,
þat despendes here heikte amis,
wer-þurh ben in-to helle itakt.
Þenc, mon, war-of crist þe wroukte
ant do wey prude ant fulthe mod.
þenc wou dere he þe bokte
on rode mit his swete blod;
82

him-self he gaf for þe in pris,
to buge þe blis yf þu be wis.
bi-þenc þe, mon, ant up aris
of slovþe, an-gin to worche god
wil time to worchen is,
for elles þu art witles ant wod.
Al day þu mikt understonde
ant ti mirour bifor þe sen,
wat is to don an to wonden,
ant wat to holden ant to flen;
for al day þu sigst wid þin egven
wou þis world went ant wou men deiget.
þat wite wel, þat þu shalt dreigen
det, al so an-oþer det.
ne helput nout þer non to ligen,
ne may no mon bu det ageyn.
Ne wort ne god þer unforgulde,
ne non uuel ne worth unboukt;
wanne þu list, mon, undur molde
þu shalt hauen as tu hauest wrokt.
biþenc þe wel forþi, hic rede,
ant clanse þe of þine misdede,
þat he þe helpe at þine nede,
þat so dure hus haued iboukt,
ant to heuene blisse lede
þat euere lest ant failet nout.
Amen.
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