The Clerk's Tale
Folio 91v
4 of 35 folios
Al haue I nat to do in this matere
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More thanne an othere man hath in this place
Yit for as moche as ye my lord so dere
Han alwey shewed me fauour and gace
I dar the better aske you of a space
Of audience to shewen our requeste
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And ye my lord to do ryght as you leste
For certes lord so wel vs liketh yow
And al your werk and euer han don . that we
Ne coude nat our self deuysen how
We myghten lyuen in more felicite
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Sauf o. thing lord if it your wil be
That for to be a wedded man yow leste
Then were your peple in souereyn hertes reste
Bowyth your nekke vnder that blisful yok
Of souereynte nat of seruise
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Which that men clepen spousaile or wedlok
And thinketh lord among your thoughtes wise
How that our dayes passe in sundry wise
For though we slepe or wake or rome or ryde
Ay fleeth the tyme it wol no man abyde
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And though your grene youth floure as yit
In crepith age alwey as stil as stoon
And deth manaceth euery age and smyt
In eche estat for ther eschapeth noon
And also certeyn as we know echon
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That we shul dye and vncerteyn we alle
Ben of that day that deth shal on vs falle
Accepteth thanne of vs the trew entente
That neuer yit refuseden your heeste
And we wol lord yif that ye wol assente
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Chese yow a wyf in short tyme atte leeste
Borne of the gentileste and of the meeste
Of al this lond so that it ought seme
Honour to god and yow as we can deme