Geoffrey Chaucer

“ So burnt his hearte, that he woulde fain,
That some man bothe him and her had slain;
For neither after his death, nor in his life,
Ne would he that she were no love nor wife,
But ever live as widow in clothes black,
Sole as the turtle that hath lost her make. ”

“ But natheless, betwixt earnest and game,
He at the last appointed him on one,
And let all others from his hearte gon,
And chose her of his own authority;
For love is blind all day, and may not see. ”

“ As for to put a bill of Venus' works
(For alle thing hath time, as say these clerks) ,
To any woman for to get her love,
I cannot say; but greate God above,
That knoweth that none act is causeless,
He deem of all, for I will hold my peace.
But sooth is this, how that this freshe May
Hath taken such impression that day
Of pity on this sicke Damian,
That from her hearte she not drive can
The remembrance for to do him ease. ”

“ With Maius in his hand, and no wight mo',
Into this freshe garden is y-go,
And clapped to the wicket suddenly.
"Now, wife," quoth he, "here is but thou and I;
Thou art the creature that I beste love:
For, by that Lord that sits in heav'n above,
Lever I had to dien on a knife,
Than thee offende, deare true wife. ”

“ I counte not a pannier full of herbs
Of schoole termes; wiser men than thou,
As thou hast heard, assented here right now
To my purpose: Placebo, what say ye?"
"I say it is a cursed man," quoth he,
"That letteth matrimony, sickerly."
And with that word they rise up suddenly,
And be assented fully, that he should
Be wedded when him list, and where he would.
High fantasy and curious business
From day to day gan in the soul impress
Of January about his marriage
Many a fair shape, and many a fair visage
There passed through his hearte night by night. ”

“ For since that very heav'n is bought so dear,
With tribulation and great penance,
How should I then, living in such pleasance
As alle wedded men do with their wives,
Come to the bliss where Christ etern on live is? ”

“ How might a man have any adversity
That hath a wife? certes I cannot say
The bliss the which that is betwixt them tway,
There may no tongue it tell, or hearte think.
If he be poor, she helpeth him to swink;
She keeps his good, and wasteth never a deal ”

“ Lo, where he sits, the lechour, in the tree.
Now will I granten, of my majesty,
Unto this olde blinde worthy knight,
That he shall have again his eyen sight,
When that his wife will do him villainy;
Then shall be knowen all her harlotry,
Both in reproof of her and other mo'."
"Yea, Sir," quoth Proserpine," and will ye so?
Now by my mother Ceres' soul I swear
That I shall give her suffisant answer,
And alle women after, for her sake;
That though they be in any guilt y-take,
With face bold they shall themselves excuse,
And bear them down that woulde them accuse. ”

“ That I in her could have no pleasance,
Then should I lead my life in avoutrie,
And go straight to the devil when I die.
Nor children should I none upon her getten:
Yet were me lever houndes had me eaten
Than that mine heritage shoulde fall
In strange hands: and this I tell you all.
I doubte not I know the cause why
Men shoulde wed: and farthermore know I
There speaketh many a man of marriage
That knows no more of it than doth my page,
For what causes a man should take a wife. ”

“ On peril of my soul, I shall not lien,
As me was taught to helpe with your eyen,
Was nothing better for to make you see,
Than struggle with a man upon a tree:
God wot, I did it in full good intent."
"Struggle!" quoth he, "yea, algate in it went.
God give you both one shame's death to dien!
He swived thee; I saw it with mine eyen;
And elles be I hanged by the halse."
"Then is," quoth she, "my medicine all false;
For certainly, if that ye mighte see,
Ye would not say these wordes unto me.
Ye have some glimpsing, and no perfect sight." ”

“ This freshe May, that is so bright and sheen,
Gan for to sigh, and said, "Alas my side!
Now, Sir," quoth she, "for aught that may betide,
I must have of the peares that I see,
Or I must die, so sore longeth me
To eaten of the smalle peares green;
Help, for her love that is of heaven queen!
I tell you well, a woman in my plight
May have to fruit so great an appetite,
That she may dien, but she of it have. "
"Alas!" quoth he, "that I had here a knave
That coulde climb; alas! alas!" quoth he,
"For I am blind." "Yea, Sir, no force," quoth she ”

“ I woulde never eft come in the snare.
We wedded men live in sorrow and care;
Assay it whoso will, and he shall find
That I say sooth, by Saint Thomas of Ind,
As for the more part; I say not all, --
God shielde that it shoulde so befall.
Ah! good Sir Host, I have y-wedded be
These moneths two, and more not, pardie;
And yet I trow that he that all his life
Wifeless hath been, though that men would him rive
Into the heart, could in no manner where
Telle so much sorrow, as I you here
Could tellen of my wife's cursedness. ”

“ Might I you helpe with mine hearte's blood."
He stooped down, and on his back she stood,
And caught her by a twist, and up she go'th.
(Ladies, I pray you that ye be not wroth,
I cannot glose, I am a rude man) :
And suddenly anon this Damian
Gan pullen up the smock, and in he throng.
And when that Pluto saw this greate wrong,
To January he gave again his sight,
And made him see as well as ever he might.
And when he thus had caught his sight again,
Was never man of anything so fain:
But on his wife his thought was evermo'. ”

“ So long had Maius in her chamber abided,
As custom is unto these nobles all.
A bride shall not eaten in the hall
Till dayes four, or three days at the least,
Y-passed be; then let her go to feast. ”

“ The youngest man that is in all this rout
Is busy enough to bringen it about
To have his wife alone, truste me:
Ye shall not please her fully yeares three,
This is to say, to do her full pleasance.
A wife asketh full many an observance. ”

“ He was a lechour, and an idolaster,
And in his eld he very God forsook.
And if that God had not (as saith the book)
Spared him for his father's sake, he should
Have lost his regne rather than he would.
I sette not of all the villainy
That he of women wrote, a butterfly.
I am a woman, needes must I speak,
Or elles swell until mine hearte break. ”

“ To January, nor to no creatucere.
O sudden hap! O thou fortune unstable!
Like to the scorpion so deceivable,
That fhatt'rest with thy head when thou wilt sting;
Thy tail is death, through thine envenoming. ”

“ Nor in Itale, could better have y-said.
Christ holds him of this counsel well apaid.
And truely it is a high courage
Of any man that stopen is in age,
To take a young wife, by my father's kin;
Your hearte hangeth on a jolly pin. ”

“ That she must either dien suddenly,
Or elles she must have him as her lest:
She waited when her hearte woulde brest.
Upon that other side Damian
Becomen is the sorrowfullest man
That ever was ”