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"O lord oure lord, thy name how merveillous | |
Is in this large world ysprad," quod she | |
"For noght oonly thy laude precious | |
Parfourned is by men of dignitee, | |
5 | But by the mouth of children thy bountee |
Parfourned is, for on the brest soukynge | |
Somtyme shewen they thyn heriynge. |
Wherfore in laude, as I best kan or may, | |
Of thee, and of the whyte lylye flour | |
10 | Which that the bar, and is a mayde alway, |
To telle a storie I wol do my labour; | |
Nat that I may encressen hir honour, | |
For she hirself is honour, and the roote | |
Of bountee, next hir sone, and soules boote. |
15 | O mooder Mayde! O mayde Mooder free! |
O bussh unbrent, brennynge in Moyses sighte, | |
That ravysedest doun fro the deitee | |
Thurgh thyn humblesse, the Goost that in th'alighte, | |
Of whos vertu, whan he thyn herte lighte, | |
20 | Conceyved was the Fadres sapience, |
Help me to telle it in thy reverence. |
Lady, thy bountee, thy magnificence, | |
Thy vertu, and thy grete humylitee, | |
Ther may no tonge expresse in no science, | |
25 | For somtyme, lady, er men praye to thee, |
Thou goost biforn of thy benyngnytee | |
And getest us the lyght, thurgh thy preyere, | |
To gyden us unto thy Sone so deere. |
My konnyng is so wayk, O blisful Queene, | |
30 | For to declare thy grete worthynesse, |
That I ne may the weighte nat susteene, | |
But as a child of twelf monthe oold, or lesse, | |
That kan unnethes any word expresse, | |
Right so fare I; and therfore I yow preye, | |
35 | Gydeth my song that I shal of yow seye." |
Next: The Prioress's Tale (ll. 36-238) | © Librarius All rights reserved. |