XXXIII. And that the very truth it is which I XXXIV. 165 Good Nightingale! thou speakest wondrous fair, Yet for all that, the truth is found elsewhere; XXXV. For thereof come all contraries to gladness; Thence sickness comes, and overwhelming sad ness, Mistrust and jealousy, despite, debate, XXXVI. Loving is aye an office of despair, And one thing is therein which is not fair; XXXVII. 174 179 And, therefore, Nightingale! do thou keep nigh, For trust me well, in spite of thy quaint cry, 185 XXXVIII. Fie, quoth she, on thy name, Bird ill beseen! XXXIX. For evermore his servants Love amendeth, And he from every blemish them defendeth ; And maketh them to burn, as in a fire, In loyalty, and worshipful desire, And, when it likes him, joy enough them sendeth. XL. Thou Nightingale! the Cuckoo said, be still, For Love no reason hath but his own will; For to th' untrue he oft gives ease and joy; True lovers doth so bitterly annoy, 195 199 He lets them perish through that grievous ill. XLI. With such a master would I never be ;' For he, in sooth, is blind, and may not see, And knows not when he hurts and when he heals; Within this court full seldom Truth avails, XLII. 205 Then of the Nightingale did I take note, 1 From a manuscript in the Bodleian, as are also stanzas 44 and 45, which are necessary to complete the sense. XLIII. Alas, alas! my very heart will break, Now, God of Love! thou help me in some wise, That vengeance on this Cuckoo I may wreak. 215 XLIV. And so methought I started up anon, XLV. And as he flew, the Cuckoo, ever and aye, And on I hunted him from tree to tree, XLVI. 225 Then straightway came the Nightingale to me, And said, Forsooth, my friend, do I thank thee, That thou wert near to rescue me; and now, Unto the God of Love I make a vow, That all this May I will thy songstress be. 230 XLVII. Well satisfied, I thanked her, and she said, Yet if I live it shall amended be, When next May comes, if I am not afraid. 235 XLVIII. And one thing will I counsel thee alsò, Nay, nothing shall me bring thereto, quoth I, XLIX. Yea, hath it? use, quoth she, this medicine; L. 245 And mind always that thou be good and true, 248 LI. And soon as she had sung it to the end, wend; And, God of Love, that can right well and may, Send unto thee as mickle joy this day, As ever he to Lover yet did send. LII. Thus takes the Nightingale her leave of me; pray to God with her always to be, I And joy of love to send her evermore; And shield us from the Cuckoo and her lore, For there is not so false a bird as she. 255 260 LIII. Forth then she flew, the gentle Nightingale, To all the Birds that lodged within that dale, And gathered each and all into one place; And them besought to hear her doleful case, And thus it was that she began her tale. 265 LIV. The Cuckoo-'tis not well that I should hide Of that false Bird whom Love can not abide. 270 LV. Then spake one Bird, and full assent all gave; 275 LVI. And thereat shall the Eagle be our Lord, LVII. And all this shall be done without a nay, 280 At Woodstock, on the meadow green and gay. 285 |