ọ̄ becomes ū (ǖ?) in gud(e) b 9, b 15; and its length is sometimes indicated by adding y, as in ruysand 'vaunting' b 80.
a.This poem is largely a translation of sentences excerpted from Rolle's Incendium Amoris, cc. xl-xli (Miss Allen in Mod. Lang. Review for 1919, p. 320). Useful commentaries are his prose Form of Perfect Living (ed. Horstmann, vol. i, pp. 3 ff.), and Commandment of Love to God (ibid. pp. 61 ff.), which supply many parallels in thought and phrasing; see, for example, the note to l. 48 below.
a 1. feste. Not the adj. 'fast', but pp. 'fastened', and so in l. 82.
a 5. louyng, 'beloved one', here and in l. 56. This exceptional use of the verbal noun occurs again in my ȝhernyng 'what I yearn for', a 22; my couaytyng 'what I covet', a 23.
a 9-12. The meaning seems to be: 'The throne of love is raised high, for it (i.e. love) ascended into heaven. It seems to me that on earth love is hidden, which makes men pale and wan. It goes very near to the bed of bliss (i.e. the bridal bed of Christ and the soul) I assure you. Though the way may seem long to us, yet love unites God and man.'
a 24. louyng, 'praise' here and in XVI 405, from OE. lof 'praise'; quite distinct from louyng, lufyng, in ll. 5 and 56.
a 36. fle þat na man it maye, 'which no man can escape'. See Appendix § 12, Relative.
a 42. styll, 'always' rather than 'motionless'.