Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/59

Friendship unfeigned Kind nature gave me: since the day
That first we met, not once astray
Have gone our hearts, but many a proof
Have had that, like the web with woof,
Are they conjoined in friendship true,
And proof alone assurance due
Affordeth of a friendship’s worth.
If all that I possess on earth
You deigned to take, my heart would be
Grateful to you exceedingly,8490
So powerful are the cords that bind
Two men whose bodies hold one mind.
For I, quoth he, to heal your woe
To prison, light of heart, would go
As borrow, pawn, or hostage plight,
While all my goods were sold outright
For your behoof.
But this dear friend
Permitted not his work to end
With offering, but would take no rest
Until he generously had pressed8500
His having on me, who, for shame,
Stood silently, as one who’d blame
Himself, yet dares not ope his lips
To tell the wretchedness that grips
His inmost heart, but tries to hide
The poverty that like a tide
O’erwhelms him, and with cheerful face
Would fain conceal his dire disgrace.

Far different is the case, I doubt,
With monkish mendicants, those stout8510