Grace is delighted to kick off this year’s Lent series. Every other week during Lent Grace will have a guest who has chosen a Lenten-themed poem to share. Today, though, is just a little meditative beginning with three Middle English poems, text below, translations by Grace Hamman. 

Westminster Abbey MS 27 (175 in Carleton Brown's XVth Century Lyrics)

Wise men bene but scorned,

& wedows eke foryerned,

Grete men arn bot glosid,

& smale men arn borne doun & myslosed,

Lordis wex euer blynd,

Ffrendis ben vnkynde,

Dethe is oute of mynde,

Treuth may no man fynde.

Wise men are only mocked,

and widows are forgotten,

Great men are flattered,

& the little ones are downtrodden and blamed,

The powerful grow ever more blind,

Friends become unkind,

Death has left the mind,

Truth itself no man can find.

Advocates Lib. 18.7.21 (66 in Brown's XIVth Century Lyrics)

Loue me brouthte,

& loue me wrouthte,

Man, to be thi fere.

Loue me fedde,

& loue me ledde,

& loue me lettet here.

Loue me slou,

& loue me drou,

& loue me leyde on bere.

Loue is my pes,

For loue I ches,

Man to by3en dere.

Ne dred the nouth

I haue the south,

Bothen day & nith,

to hauen the,

Wel is me,

I haue the wonnen in fith.

Love brought me,

Love wrought me,

Man, to be your advocate.

Love fed me,

Love led me,

And love stopped me here.

Love slew me,

Love drew me,

Love laid me on bier.

Love is my peace,

For love I chose

Man to buy so dear [at a high cost].

Dread thee nought,

For I have thee sought,

Both day and night.

In having thee

Well is me.

I have won thee in the fight.

Advocates MS 19. I. II, (111 in Brown's XVth Century Lyrics)

I Haue laborede sore and suffered deyth,

and now I Rest and draw my breyght,

but I schall come and call Ryght sone

heuene and erght and hell to dome;

and thane schall know both devyll and mane,

What I was and what I ame.

I have labored sore and suffered death,

and now I rest and draw my breath,

but I shall come and call very soon

heaven and earth and hell to doom [judgment];

And then shall know, both devil and man,

What I was and who I am.