Piers Plowman - Maybe You Like It

Passus Twelve
12.001: " I am Ymaginatif,' quod he, "ydel was I nevere,
12.002: Though I sitte by myself, in siknesse nor in helthe.
12.003: I have folwed thee, in feith, thise fyve and fo
12.004: And manye tymes have meved thee to [mlyn[n]e on thyn ende,
12.005: And how fele fernyeres are faren, and so fewe to come:
12.006: And of thi wilde wantownesse [whan] thow yong were,
12.007: To amende it in thi myddel age, lest myght the faille
12.008: In thyn olde elde, that yvele kan suffre
12.009: Poverte or penaunce, or preyeres bidde:
12.009: Si non in prima vigilia nec in secunda &c.
12.010: "Amende thee while thow myght; thow hast ben warned ofte
12.011: With poustees of pestilences, with poverte and with angres —
12.012: And with thise bittre baleises God beteth his deere children:
12.012: Quem diligo, castigo.
12.013: And David in the Sauter seith, of swiche that loveth Jesus,
12.013: "" Virga tua et baculus tuus, ipsa me consolata sunt.
12.014: Although thow strike me with thi staf, with stikke or with yerde,
12.015: It is but murthe as for me to amende my soule.''
12.016: And thow medlest thee with makynges — and myghtest go seye
thi Sauter,
12.017: And bidde for hem that yyveth thee breed; for ther are bokes
ynowe
12.018: To telle men what Dowel is, Dobet and Dobest bothe,
12.019: And prechours to preve what it is, of many a peire freres.'
12.020: I seigh wel he seide me sooth and, somwhat me to excuse,
12.021: Seide, "Caton conforted his sone that, clerk though he were,
12.022: To solacen hym som tyme — a[lso] I do whan I make:
12.022: Interpone tuis interdum gaudia curis.
12.023: "And of holy men I herde,' quod I, "how thei outherwhile
12.024: Pleyden, the parfiter to ben, in [places manye].
12.025: Ac if ther were any wight that wolde me telle
12.026: What were Dowel and Dobet and Dobest at the laste,
12.027: Wolde I nevere do werk, but wende to holi chirche
12.028: And there bidde my bedes but whan ich ete or slepe.'
12.029: "Poul in his pistle,' quod he, "preveth what is Dowel:
12.029: Fides, spes, caritas, et maior horum &c —
12.030: Feith, hope and charitee, and alle ben goode,
109