The+Monk_Translation_Cowan

//165:// A monk ther was, a fair for the maistrie, //166:// An outridere, that lovede venerie, //167:// A manly man, to been an abbot able. //168:// Ful many a deyntee hors hadde he in stable, //169:// And whan he rood, men myghte his brydel heere //170:// Gynglen in a whistlynge wynd als cleere //171:// And eek as loude as dooth the chapel belle. //172:// Ther as this lord was kepere of the celle, //173:// The reule of seint maure or of seint beneit, //174:// By cause that it was old and somdel streit //175:// This ilke monk leet olde thynges pace, //176:// And heeld after the newe world the space. //177:// He yaf nat of that text a pulled hen, //178:// That seith that hunters ben nat hooly men, //179:// Ne that a monk, whan he is recchelees, //180:// Is likned til a fissh that is waterlees, //181:// This is to seyn, a monk out of his cloystre. //182:// But thilke text heeld he nat worth an oystre; //183:// And I seyde his opinion was good. //184:// What sholde he studie and make hymselven wood, //185:// Upon a book in cloystre alwey to poure, //186:// Or swynken with his handes, and laboure, //187:// As austyn bit? how shal the world be served? //188:// Lat austyn have his swynk to hym reserved! //189:// Therfore he was a prikasour aright: //190:// Grehoundes he hadde as swift as fowel in flight; //191:// Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hare //192:// Was al his lust, for no cost wolde he spare. //193:// I seigh his sleves purfiled at the hond //194:// With grys, and that the fyneste of a lond; //195:// And, for to festne his hood under his chyn, //196:// He hadde of gold ywroght a ful curious pyn; //197:// A love-knotte in the gretter ende ther was. //198:// His heed was balled, that shoon as any glas, //199:// And eek his face, as he hadde been enoynt. //200:// He was a lord ful fat and in good poynt; //201:// His eyen stepe, and rollynge in his heed, //202:// That stemed as a forneys of a leed; //203:// His bootes souple, his hors in greet estaat. //204:// Now certeinly he was a fair prelaat; //205:// He was nat pale as a forpyned goost. //206:// A fat swan loved he best of any roost. //207:// His palfrey was as broun as is a berye.
 * There was a Monk, and nowhere was his friend,**
 * A hunter, and a roving overseer.**
 * He was a manly man, and fully able**
 * To a Father he kept a hunting stable,**
 * And when he rode the neighborhood could hear**
 * His bridle jingling in the wind as clear**
 * And loud as if it were a chapel bell**
 * Wherever he was master of a cell**
 * The principles of good St. Benedict,**
 * For being a little old and somewhat strict,**
 * Were honored in the breach, as past their prime**
 * He lived by the fashion of a newer time**
 * He would have swapped that text for a plucked hen**
 * Which says that hunters are not holy men**
 * Or a monk outside his discipline and rule**
 * Is too much like a fish outside his pool**
 * That is to say, a monk outside his cloister**
 * But such a text he deemed not worth an oyster**
 * I told him his opinion made me glad**
 * Why should he always study and go mad**
 * Locked in his cell with only a book for neighbor**
 * Or why, as Augustine commanded, labor**
 * And sweat his hands? How shall the world be served?**
 * To Augustine such tiol be all reserved!**
 * And so he hunted, as was only right**
 * He had greyhounds as swift as birds in flight**
 * His taste was all for tracking down the hare**
 * And he did not care what his sport might cost**
 * I noticed his sleeves where they met his hand**
 * Trimmed with grey fur, the finest in the land**
 * His hood was fastened with a curious pin**
 * Made of wrought gold and clasped beneath his chin**
 * A love knot at the tip his head might pass**
 * Bald as it was, for a lump of shining glass**
 * And his face was glistening as if annointed**
 * He was fat as a lord, and well appointed**
 * His eyes were large, and rolled inside his head**
 * As if they gleamed from a furnace of hot lead**
 * His boots were flexible and his horse was wonderfully kept**
 * He was a archpriest to dream of while you slept**
 * He was not pale nor peaked like a ghost**
 * He relished a plump swan as his favorite roast**
 * He rode a palfrey brown as a ripe berry.**

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