Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/72

Soon as I sally forth to work,
Away you start, with smile and smirk,
Ready for some wild prank or game.
Whereat your cheeks should burn for shame.
Singing aloud like siren sleek—
God curse you with an evil week.8890

A husband’s woes When business drags me far from home
To Frisia’s shores, or e’en to Rome,
At once you mount coquettish dress,
That leaves but little room to guess
My lot, till neighbours talk thereon.
And when they ask wherefore you don
Such gay attire while I’m away,
With brazen impudence you’ll say
In mocking tones: Oho! oho!
’Tis that I love my husband so.8900
But I, poor wretch, may mope and grieve,
Who careth, whether I forge or weave,
Or whether alive or dead am I?
Then one would hit me in the eye
With bladder reft from goat or sheep,
And all the world but holds me cheap.
Because to beat you I’ve forborne,
Whilst nought I win from you but scorn,
You brag! though well ’tis known you lie.
Alack! alack! a fool was I8910
With such a pair of gloves to cramp
My hands—but I the bit may champ.
Alas! a fool’s cap ’twas I wore
That day when you obedience swore
In church, and I, poor idiot, dreamed
You’d later prove what then you seemed.