The Clerk's Tale
Folio 175r
4 of 35 folios
¶ For certes lord / so wel vs liketh yow
And al youre werk and euere han doon / þt we
Ne kouden nat vs self / deuysen how
We myghte lyuen / in moore felicitee
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Saue o thyng lord / if it your wille be
That for to been a wedded man / yow leste
Thanne were your peple / in souereyn hertes reste
¶ Boweth your nekke / vnder that blisful yok
Of souereyntee / noght of seruyse
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Which that men clepe / spousaille / or wedlok
And thenketh lord / among your thoghtes wyse
How þt oure dayes passe / in sondry wyse
For thogh we slepe / or wake / or renne / or ryde
Ay fleeth the tyme / it nel no man abyde
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¶ And thogh youre grene youthe / floure as yit
In crepeth age alwey / as stille as stoon
And deth / manaceth euery age and smyt
In ech estat for ther escapeth noon
And also certeyn / as we knowe echon
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That we shal dye / as vncerteyn we alle
Been of that day / whan deth shal on vs falle
¶ Accepteth thanne of vs / the trewe entente
That neuere yet refuseden thyn heste
And we wol lord / if þt ye wol assente
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Chese yow a wyf in short tyme at the leeste
Born of the gentileste / and of the meeste
Of al this lond / so þt it oghte seme
Honour / to god and yow / as we kan deme
¶ Delyuere vs / out of al this bisy drede
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And tak a wyf / for heighe goddes sake
For if so bifelle / as god forbede
That thurgh youre deeth / youre ligne sholde slake
And that a straunge Successour / sholde take
Youre heritage / o. wo were vs alyue
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Wher fore / we pray yow / hastily to wyue