| 1 | I have gret wonder, be this lighte, |
| 2 | How that I live, for day ne nighte |
| 3 | I may nat slepe wel nigh noght, |
| 4 | I have so many an ydel thoght |
| 5 | Purely for defaute of slepe |
| 6 | That, by my trouthe, I take no kepe |
| 7 | Of no-thing, how hit cometh or goth, |
| 8 | Ne me nis no-thing leef nor loth. |
| 9 | Al is y-liche good to me -- |
| 10 | Ioye or sorowe, wherso hyt be -- |
| 11 | For I have feling in no-thinge, |
| 12 | But, as it were, a mased thing, |
| 13 | Alway in point to falle a-doun; |
| 14 | For sorwful imaginacioun |
| 15 | Is alway hoolly in my minde. |
| 16 | And wel ye wite, agaynes kynde |
| 17 | Hit were to liven in this wyse; |
| 18 | For nature wolde nat suffyse |
| 19 | To noon erthely creature |
| 20 | Not longe tyme to endure |
| 21 | Withoute slepe, and been in sorwe; |
| 22 | And I ne may, ne night ne morwe, |
| 23 | Slepe; and thus melancolye |
| 24 | And dreed I have for to dye, |
| 25 | Defaute of slepe and hevinesse |
| 26 | Hath sleyn my spirit of quiknesse, |
| 27 | That I have lost al lustihede. |
| 28 | Suche fantasies ben in myn hede |
| 29 | So I not what is best to do. |
| 30 | But men myght axe me, why soo |
| 31 | I may not slepe, and what me is? |
| 32 | But natheles, who aske this |
| 33 | Leseth his asking trewely. |
| 34 | My-selven can not telle why |
| 35 | The sooth; but trewely, as I gesse, |
| 36 | I holde hit be a siknesse |
| 37 | That I have suffred this eight yere, |
| 38 | And yet my bote is never the nere; |
| 39 | For ther is phisicien but oon, |
| 40 | That may me hele; but that is doon. |
| 41 | Passe we over until eft; |
| 42 | That wil not be, moot nede be left; |
| 43 | Our first matere is good to kepe. |
| 44 | So whan I saw I might not slepe, |
| 45 | Til now late, this other night, |
| 46 | Upon my bedde I sat upright |
| 47 | And bad oon reche me a book, |
| 48 | A romaunce, and he hit me took |
| 49 | To rede and dryve the night away; |
| 50 | For me thoghte it better play |
| 51 | Then playen either at chesse or tables. |
| 52 | And in this boke were writen fables |
| 53 | That clerkes hadde, in olde tyme, |
| 54 | And other poets, put in ryme |
| 55 | To rede, and for to be in minde |
| 56 | Whyl men loved the lawe of kinde. |
| 57 | This book ne spak but of such thinges, |
| 58 | Of quenes lyves, and of kinges, |
| 59 | And many othere thinges smale. |
| 60 | Amonge al this I fond a tale |
| 61 | That me thoughte a wonder thing. |
| 62 | This was the tale: There was a king |
| 63 | That hight Seys, and hadde a wyf, |
| 64 | The beste that mighte bere lyf; |
| 65 | And this quene hight Alcyone. |
| 66 | So hit befel, therafter sone, |
| 67 | This king wolde wenden over see. |
| 68 | To tellen shortly, whan that he |
| 69 | Was in the see, thus in this wyse, |
| 70 | Soche a tempest gan to ryse |
| 71 | That brak hir mast, and made it falle, |
| 72 | And clefte her ship, and dreinte hem alle, |
| 73 | That never was founden, as it telles, |
| 74 | Bord ne man, ne nothing elles. |
| 75 | Right thus this king Seys loste his lyf. |
| 76 | Now for to speken of his wife: -- |
| 77 | This lady, that was left at home, |
| 78 | Hath wonder, that the king ne come |
| 79 | Hoom, for hit was a longe terme. |
| 80 | Anon her herte gan to erme; |
| 81 | And for that hir thoughte evermo |
| 82 | Hit was not wel he dwelte so, |
| 83 | She longed so after the king |
| 84 | That certes, hit were a pitous thing |
| 85 | To telle hir hertely sorwful lyf |
| 86 | That hadde, alas! this noble wyfe; |
| 87 | For him she loved alderbest. |
| 88 | Anon she sente bothe eest and west |
| 89 | To seke him, but they founde nought. |
| 90 | 'Alas!' quoth she, 'that I was wrought! |
| 91 | And wher my lord, my love, be deed? |
| 92 | Certes, I nil never ete breed, |
| 93 | I make a-vowe to my god here, |
| 94 | But I mowe of my lord here!' |
| 95 | Such sorwe this lady to her took |
| 96 | That trewely I, which made this book, |
| 97 | Had swich pite and swich rowthe |
| 98 | To rede hir sorwe, that, by my trowthe, |
| 99 | I ferde the worse al the morwe |
| 100 | After, to thenken on her sorwe. |
| 101 | So whan she coude here no word |
| 102 | That no man mighte fynde hir lord, |
| 103 | Ful ofte she swouned, and saide 'Alas!' |
| 104 | For sorwe ful nigh wood she was, |
| 105 | Ne she coude no reed but oon; |
| 106 | But doun on knees she sat anoon, |
| 107 | And weep, that pite was to here. |
| 108 | 'A! mercy! swete lady dere!' |
| 109 | Quod she to Iuno, hir goddesse; |
| 110 | 'Help me out of this distresse, |
| 111 | |