Fear and Shame tremble
And Shame and Fear were left alone,
Both trembling to the buttock bone,
Fear, low-voiced, with drooping head,
To Shame, her cousin, spake and said:
Fear.
“Fair Cousin Shame, it sore doth fret
My soul to think we twain should get3810
Reproach for crime that was not ours.
Through April’s tears and Maytide’s flowers,
Long years we’ve passed devoid of blame,
Till Jealousy, the green-eyed, came
Brimmed with suspicions.
Let us go
Whither fell Danger lurks, and show
Clearly to him what mischief he
Hath done, that not more warily
He kept strict watch and ward. A fool
Was he to let Fair-Welcome rule3820
The Garden at his wont. ’Twere well
That we, in plain-set terms, should tell
To him his duty, and that he
Must mend his ways, or speedily
Betake him otherwhere. If so
It happed that Jealousy should grow
To hate him, then, beyond all doubt,
War should she wage, and thrust him out,
As guerdon of the feeble ward
And watch he kept the Rose to guard.”3830
