Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/60

Of begging friars And thriving blades, the begging friars,
Who show themselves as rough as briars
In open street, but love to win,
With oily tongues, their way within
The goodmen’s houses whom they cheat
With lying words, while drink and meat
They batten on; and though they sing
Their poverty, they’re gathering
Fat livelihood, and many a heap
Of deniers have they dolven deep8520
Beneath the earth.
Much more could I
Relate of this fraternity,
But thereby should from bad to worse
Be thrust, and fear their spiteful curse,
For none these hypocrites, forsooth,
So hate as those who speak the truth.

Alas then! I must count me mad
That such blind confidence I had
In treacherous friends, from whom I got
No help, but all alone to rot8530
Was left, rejected and despised
Of all the crowd which erst had prized
My friendship mightily. Alone
You stood my friend when all were gone,
Your heart with mine fast intertwined,
And both, please God, shall stand combined
In constant love.
But out, alas!
One day our mortal forms must pass
From this terrestrial life, and we
Forego each other’s company,8540