Classic Poem

Now it is time to tell what Jealousy,
Prompted by vile suspicion, brought to pass.
There was no mason that she did not hire,
No excavator, in the country 'round.
It cost a pretty penny, but they dug
A deep, wide moat about the rosary;
Beside the fosse a wall of square-cut stones
Was founded not on earth but solid rock;
Its massive fundament adjoined the moat,
And, narrowing to the top, it rose on high,
A mighty work; foursquare in shape it stood,
As long as broad, six hundred feet each way.
Side by side the turrets on it rose,
Securely battlemented with squared stones.
Four corner towers, strong to withstand attack,
Four portals, too, whose walls were thick and firm,
Were placed. These latter — one on either side
And one in front and one behind — at need
Defended easily against assault,
Would never fear a catapulted stone.
Portcullises there were to grieve a foe
And take and hold whoever ventured in.
A master workman of such handicraft
Within the enclosure's very center raised
A donjon thick and high; no better keep
Could ever be. The walls would never crack
At stroke of any instrument of war;
For mortar mixed of lime and vinegar
Secured the native rock and made the tower
As strong as adamant. Built round in shape,
In all the world there was no tower more fine
Or better equipped within. About the keep
A bailey wall was built, and in between
The bailey and the keep were planted thick
The rose trees, plentifully bearing blooms.
Within the castle various instruments
Of war, like ballistas, one might observe;
And mangonels peered o'er the pinnacles;
An arbolast, 'gainst which no armor serves,
Peeped from each loophole of the lofty towers.
He'd play the fool who came too near that fort!
Enclosing all the moat, a lower wall
Assault by knights prevented until they
Had first their way thereto by battle won.
Jealousy arrayed a garrison
Within the castle that I have described.
'Twas Danger bore the key to the chief gate,
Which opened toward the east; with him he had
Full thirty wardens, by the best account.
Shame at the southern gateway stood on guard;
She was most sage, and many a sergeant had
Ready to do her will. Fear kept her watch
At the north gateway, which was on the left;
A great constabulary force she had,
But, were the gate unlocked, ne'er felt secure,
So seldom opened it; for if she heard
The noise of wind, or saw so many as two
Lone grasshoppers go issuing forth, she screamed
In panic for an hour. At the last gate
Had Evil Tongue (May God condemn his soul!)
His Norman mercenaries; but at night
He often visited the other three.
Each evening he would mount the battlements
And play his bagpipe, trumpet, horn, or shalms.
At one time he would sing descants and lays
And all the latest songs, to Cornish pipes;
Another time, accompanied with a flute,
Dispraising ladies, he would sing like this:

There is no maid who will not smile
When she hears tales of lechery.
The whores will paint, men to beguile;
For all are full of treachery.
If the fool's not talking all the while,
She's mistress of the ogling style.
There is no maid who will not smile
When she hears tales of lechery.

Thus Evil Tongue, who will no woman spare,
Contrives to find in each some serious fault.
Jealousy (whom God confound!) then placed,
Within the tower round, her garrison,
Composed of all her friends most intimate.
Fair Welcome was imprisoned in the tower,
The door of which was barred 'gainst his escape.
An old beldame to spy upon him there
No other duty had but to keep watch
Lest he some folly might commit. No man
Could trick her with a gesture or a sign;
For there was no device she did not know,
Since in her youth she'd suffered all the pains
And joys that Love unto his servants gives.
Although Fair Welcome listened and kept still,
Fearing the hag, he could no motion make
So cautiously that she could not perceive
The thought behind his simple countenance;
For well she knew the ancient dance of love.
When Jealousy Fair Welcome had secured,
Walled up within the tower, she felt safe.
Her castle walls, which she perceived were strong,
Great comfort gave to her. She had no fear
That villains might purloin a rose or bud;
The rose trees now too stoutly were enclosed.
Sleeping or waking, she was undisturbed;
But I, without the wall, felt dole and pain.
If one could but conceive the life I led,
He could but pity me. Love set high price
Upon the goods that he had lent to me;
I thought that I had purchased them, but now
He charged me for them at a double rate.
The bargain galled me much more painfully,
Because of all the joy that I had lost,
Than if it never had been mine. But why
Do I continue telling you of this?
I'm like the husbandman who sows the seed
And joys when it grows fair and thick in stalk,
But ere he cuts the sheaves worse weather comes —
The season's bad — and evil clouds appear,
Just when the crop should ear, and kill the grain,
With all the hope the farmer had too soon.
I feared thus to have lost both pains and hopes
Love had advanced my cause when I began
To give Fair Welcome greatest confidence;
Ready he seemed to join the game of love.
But so inconstant is love's God that he
Upset me in the hour when I believed
Myself about to ride triumphantly.
'Tis thus that Fortune lodges discontent
Within men's hearts one hour, but to caress
And flatter them the next. No, not an hour
Is passed without her change of countenance:
One minute she will smile, another frown.
She has a wheel she turns whene'er she will;
But half a turn upsets those at the top
To grovel in the mud, while those below
Are to the summit raised. Now was I one
Of those who are upset. Woe worth the day
When I first saw the fosses and the walls
Which I would dare not traverse if I could!
Fair Welcome being in jail, I had no joy
Or blessing; for the cure of all my pain
Rested with him and with the Rose enclosed
Within the walls, from which he must be freed
If Love were willing that I should be healed.
Never I'd wish by other means to have
Honor or blessing, health or happiness.

" Alas, Fair Welcome, my sweet friend, though you
Be cast in prison, keep your heart for me;
For no price let that savage Jealousy
As she's enslaved your body chain your soul;
Though you without be punished, keep within
A heart as hard as diamond against
Her chastisement; in spirit keep your love
For me although your body pine in jail!
No punishment or evil treatment makes
A true heart leave its love. If Jealousy
Makes you endure annoyance and distress,
Strengthen your heart 'gainst her severity,
At least in thought, if you can't otherwise
Avenge yourself against the spite she shows.
Do this, and I will think myself well paid.
Now I'm distressed lest you should not do so,
But blame your dire imprisonment on me.
Yet surely 'twas no fault of mine, for I
Never revealed what should have hidden been.
Rather, so help me God, misfortune falls
More heavily on me than you; I pay
A greater penalty than man can tell.
Chagrin almost confounds me when I sense
My loss, which is so manifestly great.
My dread and dole will be, I think, my death.
Have I not cause to dread, when I perceive
The lying, envious traitors taking care
To injure me? Fair Welcome, I know well
That they are bent upon deceiving you
And by their stories bringing it to pass
That they'll be able, as it were, to lead
You by a halter! Mayhap they do now!
I know not how it comes, but blank dismay
So sorely troubles me that my heart fails.
If I lose your good will, I shall despair,
For elsewhere I can find no source of confidence. "