Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/57

Friends flee poverty And worst of all, my friends are gone.
Grim Poverty hath spared not one.
Ah yes! dear friend, when Fortune spent
Her spite on me, my friends all went,
Nay, all went not, one still remained.
Whereof my woe-worn heart was fained.

When Fortune chose my goods to take,
Poverty followed in her wake:
I lie—nought Fortune took from me,
All that she took most certainly8430
Was hers; for had those friends been mine,
I had not seen them all decline
Acquaintance when she left; thus she
In nowise acted wrongfully,
For hers were they, and, like a fool,
I thought I’d bought them, and could rule
Their hearts as they were mine. Alas!
All suddenly beheld I pass
Those worthy friends, whene’er they found
That of my coin, bright, smooth, and round,8440
No piece remained. Each well-known face
Departed with a wry grimace
Soon as a-top of Fortune’s wheel
My head they saw not, but my heel.
An ingrate were I should I scold
Her who hath shown me good untold
And undeserved.
She now, forsooth,
With tender care and loving ruth
Hath on mine eyes bestowed a calm
And perfect vision; gentle balm8450
Hath she prepared to salve my sight
And if some twenty friends took flight