The Lover.
Unseemly phrase
“That I allow, and fain confess
That words would fail me to express
My boundless thanks; but yet I heard,
Methinks, one most unseemly word,
Both wanton and inconsequent,
Which, if thereon my wit were spent,
All lightly I could show to be
Most gross, used indecorously,6030
Leaving you bare of all excuse.”
Reason.
“I know the word that doth induce
Thy wrath,” quoth she, “but thou shalt hear
Me later purge and make all clear
That word, if such be thy desire.”
The Lover.
“That certainly shall I require.
Most clearly in my memory fixed
Is that unseemly word you mixed
In your discourse, when you began
To rail at justice dealt to man.6040
But my great master bid me not
(His counsel ne’er have I forgot)
Speak any ribald word, and he
Shall be obeyed implicitly.
But since that word I did not name,
To me ’twill not be counted shame
