The Friend.
Tricksters must be tricked
Fair friend! fair friend! right good were this
Against an open foe, ywis,
But Evil-Tongue is too occult
And sly for war, and poor result
You’d have with him; whene’er some carl
Or dame he’d injure, with a snarl
Behind their backs he speaks. His base
And traitorous head may God disgrace!8220
Most poisonous is he when most fair
He shows, and in his heart doth bear
Cruel deception hid beneath
The smile that’s born of lips and teeth,
Not of the heart. Ne’er for a friend
A traitor takes me, nor expend
I love on him; and if perchance
His treachery fall to Treason’s lance,
For lack of time and means whereby
To venge oneself more honourably,8230
’Tis his desert, and small regret
Were mine whatever fate he met.
If you ’gainst Evil-Tongue should plead,
Dream you by such means you’d succeed
To stay his prattling lies?
You’d find,
Alas! you could in no wise bind
The slanderous wretch. Although you brought
A hundred witnesses, they nought
Could stay his cackle; more thy proof,
The more he’d talk, and less behoof8240
You’d gain therefor. More widely known
Would be the slander, though ’twere shown
