Romance of the Rose (Ellis)/Chapter 94
XCIV
This tells how Nature, Goddess sweet,
Herein much labour have I spent
With honest purpose and intent,
Of showing forth to every man
How to defend him from the ban17190
Of taking such a mate as may
His goods despoil and life betray.
Trust not women
But if some fool repose his head,
Pillowed beside his wife in bed,
Where scarce he dares to hope for sleep,
Since of some crime he fears to reap
Ill consequence or death if he
By evil chance betrayed should be,
And therefore wallows, turns, and sighs,
In vain attempt to close his eyes,17200
With fawning voice towards him turns
His wife, who for his secret yearns,
Nurses his head betwixt her breasts,
The wife speaks to her husband.
The wheedling wife
And saith: Your restlessness attests
Dear man, some grief; what makes you sigh
And toss about uneasily?
May we not feel, as lie we here,
Secure from dread or irksome fear?
Of all the world, the special twain
’Twixt whom sweet confidence should reign17210
We well may be with reason reckoned,
You as the first, and I the second:
No pair of hearts than ours could be
Together knit more lovingly;
My hands have made secure the door,
Thick are walls, and stout the floor,
The rafter beams are set on high
And through the windows none can spy,
Seeing that we well hidden are
Therefrom, and with strong shutter bar17220
They’re fastened that could nowise stray
Our secret thence, whate’er we say.
Nay here, unless with warning noise
Some rash rude hand the door destroys,
We’re sure and safe from all unkind
Disturbance, save of boisterous wind.
Briefly, you need in nowise fear
That any living soul can hear
Your voice except myself, and I
Therefore implore you piteously17230
By all our love, amain you tell
Your wife what drags your soul to hell.
The Husband.
Fore God! the thing that doth oppress
My mind, quoth he, with heaviness,
Had better far be left unsaid.
The Wife.
A wife’s plea
Alas! dear husband, are you wed
To one whose counsel you reject
As of disloyalty suspect?
When we in holy wedlock, came
Together in the precious name17240
Of Jesu Christ he was to us
Of his sweet grace so generous.
That closed within the sacred mesh
Of marriage are we but one flesh:
And seen that thus one flesh are we
By every right we ought to be
In no one single thing apart
But have betwixt the twain one heart.
My heart is yours, by that same sign
Your heart should be all wholly mine,17250
Nor should its inmost chambers hold
A secret thought or wish untold
To her who loves you. Therefore say
To me, whate’er of grief, I pray,
Afflicts you, free from all deceit.
For till your heart with mine doth beat
Twill know no peace. If you refuse,
Alas! ’twill then be clear I lose
Your confidence, but well I know
What tender love for me doth flow
Through all your being when I hear
You say, ‘Sweet love’ and ‘Sister dear.’
And ’gainst whom is it that you guard
This chestnut, kept with watch and ward?
Wherefore mistrust
For if you hide from me your grief
’Twould seem as though a traitor thief
You but esteem me—I, who ne’er
From that first day ’twas mine to share
Your name, concealed, whate’er betid,17270
The secret thought my bosom hid,
But leaving father dear, and mother,
Uncles and cousins, sister, brother,
On you alone do I depend
My one relation, love, and friend.
Forsooth, a sad exchange I’ve made
If you should show yourself afraid
To trust me, though I ne’ertheless
Love you with fondest tenderness.
But no more than a garden leek
Can you esteem me, if you seek17280
This trouble from me to withhold,
Possessed with fear lest it be told
Abroad. By Christ, our Lord in heaven!
Into whose hands could it be given
So safely? Think the matter out,
And if my loyalty you doubt.
My body’s in your power to do
Therewith whatever pleaseth you.
And if that pledge sufficeth not,
What more you’d have I fain would wot.17290
Would you assign me place below
My women friends around, who know
Their husbands’ secrets? Other men
Speak freely to their spouses when
In bed o’ nights with them they lie,
Telling them all their privity
As openly, to say the least,
As though they shrived them with their priest.
All this I know for gospel truth
Since I from their own mouths, forsooth,17300
Have learned things many a time when fain
Were they, in confidential strain,
To tell when all alone we’ve been
The secrets they have heard and seen.
But you would do me grievous wrong
Should you suppose that I belong
To women of such sort, for I
Ne’er blab or speak unseasonably.
So am I of my body too,
Fore God and man, fair-lived and true.17310
You never heard that any one
With me adultery had done,
Or if some one with ill intent
Said so—a lie did he invent.
Have you not often proved me well?
And can you aught against me tell?
Wedlock’s oath
Remember you, fair sir, I pray,
The oath that on our wedding-day
You pledged to me? The offering
You then made of a wedding-ring17320
I now look back on with surprise,
Knowing your vows for barefaced lies.
If you to trust my faith are loth,
Why sware you then that spousal troth?
I charge you by that oath to say
What thing it is you hide away
Secresy promised
In secret from me. Let me know
This once what palls your spirit so,
And by St. Peter it shall sleep
With me as safely as if deep17330
’Twere buried ’neath a pile of stone.
I should but for a fool be known
If out my lips a single word
Were to your hurt or damage heard;
Moreover, ’twould my lineage shame,
Whereof I’m proud to guard the fame,
And cast on me disgrace so great
That death I’d count a worthier fate.
A saying is there, just and true,
That whoso cuts his nose atwo17340
For ever after shames his face:
If faith in God still find a place
Within your heart, confide to me
Your grief, or you my death will be.
Genius.
Then with her head and breast laid bare
No amorous dalliance doth she spare,
Nor pleadings of false tears she misses,
With treacherous smiles and Judas kisses.