méum ést propósitúm | ín tabérna móri.
The English verses are also in the form of a six-lined stanza aaaabb, but the first four lines have the same loose four-stress rhythm as the lines in MS. Harl. 2253, and the concluding couplet is on the principle of the septenarius. Both the English and the Latin lines rime at the caesura as well as at the end of the line, but this is less uniformly the rule in the English verses. There is close verbal connexion between the four lines in MS. Harl. 2253, and the opening lines of the longer poem, as will appear from a comparison of the two:—
MS. Harl. 2253.
Erþe toc of erþe erþe wyþ woh
erþe oþer erþe to þe erþe droh
erþe leyde erþe in erþene þroh
þo heuede erþe of erþe erþe ynoh
MS. Harl. 913.
whan erþ haþ erþ . iwonne wiþ wow
þan erþ mai of erþ . nim hir inow