Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/251

The waves, thrown back upon the brink;
But, rashly venturing, many sink6400
For ever ’neath the o’er whelming flood,
And from the rank and noisome mud.
That clogs its cavern depths, no more
Shall gain the light, or win the shore.
This horrible flood doth boil and churn,
With many a vagrant twist and turn,
Through gorges numberless, and thus,
At last its waters poisonous,
That reek with odours foul, and steam
With noisome vapours, meet the stream6410
So pure and limpid, and to it
Their own vile mirous filth transmit,
Fulfilled of direful pestilence,
And sickening every finer sense;
The waters of the pleasant pool
Flow on no longer calm and cool,
And that same stream that higher gave
Forth perfumes delicate and suave
Becomes a fetid torrent, curst
With odours that from hell might burst.6420

The house of Fortune Not on the crest of mountain tall,
But where its flank doth sloping fall,
Above the plain, in crumbling state,
As ready to succumb to fate,
Is Fortune’s mansion dight. No rage
There is of stormy winds that wage
Wild war, that falls not on it. Fierce
And strong the tempests are that pierce
That dwelling. Rarely Zephyr soft
Descendeth gently from aloft6430