Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 2.pdf/93

In bed a-night-time, nought discreet
You show you when I fain would greet
Your lips or cheek with loving kiss,
And win the while sweet nuptial bliss9530
With kindly word and fond caress,
And every show of tenderness,
But all the more I press my love
Upon you, all the more you prove
Recalcitrant, and quite snuff out
My purpose with ill-tempered pout,
Nor even show the common grace
Of turning towards me, face to face,
But feign you sick, and sob and sigh,
And lie all limp and languorously.9540
So that at last I’m forced to beat,
For fear of failure, glum retreat.

A hus­band’s grievance And oft I watch the day-dawn break,
And wonder as I lie awake
Whether you wrangle in such sort
When you with other men disport
And fondle, and in what way a-paid
These rufflers are when all arrayed
And muffled up with gallant dress
You’re dizened out for wantonness;9550
Or if you practise such despite
Towards them by day as me by night.
But ne’er with gay sparks you consume
The time, I doubt, in fret and fume,
But dance and sing where’er you go,
Your face all wreathed in smiles to show
Your dazzling pearly teeth, and thus
Through meads and gardens amorous