Of Chastity, with pleasure I
Would grant your prayer, but verily
I dare in nowise contradict
Her will, and she hath given most strict3550
And sure commandment, none should touch
Or kiss the Rose, however much
Or sorely he might plead therefor:
I pray you press your suit no more.
A kiss would not suffice
‘For one,’ saith she, ‘who should attain
To touch and kiss, will not remain
Therewith content; he then had got
The choicest morsel, well I wot,
And pledge, thereby, that one day he
Should win the rest all utterly.’”3560
The Lover.
Thus answered, to my mind ’twas clear
I must forego my suit, for fear
Of angering him.
One ne’er should press
A prayer to point of wrathfulness.
No mortal man, with single stroke,
E’er cut atwain a sturdy oak,
And none may know wine’s savour sweet,
Till grapes are trodden ’neath men’s feet.
My suit for many a day had waited,
By this or that mischance belated,3570
If Venus, whom all lovers know
As friend to them, and mortal foe
To Chastity, had not appeared.
Mother of Love is she, endeared
