Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/278

Some comforting, unless despair
O’erwhelm them. None, how great soe’er
His wisdom or his learning be,
For this can find a remedy.

Sighs and tears unmanly What purpose think you then can serve
These sighs and tears which so unnerve
Thy manhood? Cheerfully accept
Whatever Fortune’s hand hath kept
In store for thee of good or bad,
Joyous or dull, or bright or sad.7230

’Twere vain to tell the many turns
Of Fortune’s wheel, by which she earns
The name of fickle; pile and cross
She plays, a game of gain and loss,
And Fortune so her gifts doth cast
Around, that whether first or last
A man may be, he scarce can say
On loss or gain from day to day.

Of her awhile I’ll stay my tongue,
Although perchance I may ere long7240
Return thereto, when unto three
Righteous requests thou answerest me,
For readily from lips depart
Those things a man hath most at heart.
And shouldst thou my requests refuse,
In no degree mayst thou excuse
Thy folly, that can spare thee shame.
I firstly then request and claim
Thy love, and next that thou reject
Dan Cupid, thirdly, nought expect7250