Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/178

’Fore Heaven! if Evil-Tongue had known,
Thereof no power on earth had thrown4270
It open. But Queen Venus, fair
And ever kind, with loving care
Snatched us the keys, and thus are we
Freed from the tower of Jealousy.

A premature ending And then all round me in a ring
These six sat, greatly comforting
My griefworn heart. Then Beauty gave
In secret that my heart did crave,
The precious Rosebud, which I took
With rapture, while my being shook4280
With tremulous joy. Couched on the grass,
New sprung, we saw the moments pass
In soft content; our coverlet
Of fragrant rose-leaves made, while met
Our lips in fond embrace. The night
We passed in transports of delight
Fearful of morn, which all too soon
Appears when Maytide treads on June.
With dawn we rose, fordone with grief
To find such joy must be so brief:4290
But Beauty much desired to gain
Once more the bud, and I, though fain
To keep it, dared not disobey
Her high behest, woe worth the day!
Whate’er my pains. But ne’ertheless
The Rose no more in hard duress
Was shut, for, ere all thither sped.
Came Beauty, smilingly, and said:
“Though Jealousy should now espy
Our doings, and more thick and high4300