"Now was ther of that churche a parish clerk
The which that was y-cleped [6] Absolon.
Curl'd was his hair, and as the gold it shone,
And strutted [7] as a fannë large and broad;
Full straight and even lay his folly shode. [8]
His rode [9] was red, his eyen grey as goose,
With Paulë's windows carven on his shoes. [10]
In hosen red he went full febishly. [11]
Y-clad he was full small and properly,
All in a kirtle of a light waget; [12]
Full fair and thickë be the pointës set.
And thereupon he had a gay surplice,
As white as is the blossom on the rise. [13]
A merry child he was, so God me save;
Well could he letten blood, and clip, and shave,
And make a charter of land and a quittance.
In twenty manners could he trip and dance,
After the school of Oxenfordë tho', [14]
And with his leggës castë to and fro;
And playen songës or a small ribible; [15]
Thereto he sung sometimes a loud quinible. [16]
And as well could he play on a gitern. [17]
In all the town was brewhouse nor tavern
That he not visited with his solas, [18]
There as that any gaillard tapstere [19] was.
This Absolon, that jolly was and gay
Went with a censor on the holy day,
Censing the wivës of the parish fast:
And many a lovely look he on them cast,
Sometimes to show his lightness and mast'ry
He playeth Herod on a scaffold high."
[6] Called.
[7] Stretched.
[8] Head of hair.
[9] Complexion.
[10] His shoes were decked with an ornament like a rose-window in old St. Paul's.
[11] Daintily.
[12] A kind of cloth.
[13] A bush.
[14] The Oxford school of dancing is satirised by the poet.