[6-text p 464]
And hem reioysen / in hire crueel pryde
And rekke nat to been an homycide
¶ This gentil May / fulfilled of pitee
Right of hire hand / a lettre made she
Line 1996
In which she graunteth hym hire verray grace
Ther lakketh noght/ oonly / but day and place
Wher þat she myghte / vn-to his lust suffise
ffor it shal be / right as he wole deuyse
Line 2000
And whan she saught hir tyme vp on a day
To visite this Damyan / gooth May
And sotilly this lettre / doun she threste
Vnder his pilwe / rede it if hym leste
Line 2004
She taketh hym by the hand / and harde hym twiste
So secrely / that no wight of it wiste
And bad hym been al hool / and forth he wente
To Ianuarie / whan þat he for hym sente
Line 2008
Vp riseth Damyan / the nexte morwe
Al passed was / his siknesse and his sorwe
He kembeth hym / he preyneth hym and pyketh
He dooth / al that his lady lust and lyketh
Line 2012
And eek to Ianuarie / he gooth as lowe
As euere dide / a dogge for the bowe
He is so plesant/ vn-to euery man
ffor craft is al / who so that do it kan
Line 2016
That euery wight/ is fayn to speke hym good
And fully / in his lady grace he stood
Thus lete I Damyan / aboute his nede
And in my tale / forth I wol procede
Line 2020
¶ Somme clerkes / holden that felicitee
Stant in delit/ and therfore certeyn he?
This noble Ianuarie / with al his myght [folio 115a]
In honeste wyse / as longeth to a knyght
Line 2024
Shoope hym to lyue / ful deliciously
His housynge / his array / as honestly
To his degree / was maked as a kynges
Amonges othere / of hise honeste thynges
Line 2028
