Unto my lady, stable, true, and sure,

Feithfull and kind, sith first that she began

40

Me to accept in service as her man:

To her be all the plesure of this boke,

That, whan her like, she may it rede and loke.

When I was yong, at eighteen yere of age,

Lusty and light, desirous of pleasaunce,

45

Approching on full sadde and ripe corage,