"Though it be songe of olde and yonge
That I shuld be to blame,110
Theirs be the charge that speke so large
In hurting of my name.
For I wyl prove that feythful love
It is devoyd of shame,
In your distresse and hevynesse,115
To parte wyth you the same;
And sure all thoo that doo not so,
Trewe lovers ar they noon;
But in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone."120
"I counsel yow remembre how
It is noo maydens lawe,
Nothing to dought, but to renne out
To wod with an outlawe.
For ye must there in your hande bere125
A bowe to bere and drawe,
And as a theef thus must ye lyeve,
Ever in drede and awe;
By whiche to yow gret harme myght grow;—
Yet had I lever than130
That I had too the grenewod goo
Alone, a banysshyd man."
"I thinke not nay; but, as ye saye,
It is noo maydens lore;
But love may make me for your sake,135
As ye have said before,
To com on fote, to hunte and shote
To gete us mete and store;
For soo that I your company
May have, I aske noo more;140
From whiche to parte, it makith myn herte
As colde as ony ston:
For in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone."
"For an outlawe this is the lawe,145
That men hym take and binde,
Without pytee hanged to bee,
And waver with the wynde.
Yf I had neede, as God forbede,
What rescous coude ye finde?150
For sothe, I trowe, you and your bowe
[Shuld] drawe for fere behynde:
And noo merveyle; for lytel avayle
Were in your councel than;
Wherfore I too the woode wyl goo155
Alone, a banysshed man."
"Ful wel knowe ye that wymen bee
Ful febyl for to fyght;
Noo womanhed is it indeede,
To bee bolde as a knight.160
Yet in suche fere yf that ye were,
Amonge enemys day and nyght,
I wolde wythstonde, with bowe in hande,
To greeve them as I myght,
And you to save, as wymen have,165
From deth many one:
For in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone."
"Yet take good hede; for ever I drede
That ye coude not sustein170
The thorney wayes, the depe valeis,
The snowe, the frost, the reyn,
The colde, the hete; for, drye or wete,
We must lodge on the playn;
And us aboove noon other rove175
But a brake bussh or twayne;
Whiche sone shulde greve you, I beleve,
And ye wolde gladly than
That I had too the grenewode goo
Alone, a banysshyd man."180
"Syth I have here been partynere
With you of joy and blysse,
I must also parte of your woo
Endure, as reason is;
Yet am I sure of oo plesure,185
And shortly, it is this;
That where ye bee, mesemeth, perdé,
I coude not fare amysse.
Wythout more speche, I you beseche
That we were soon agone;190
For in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone."