Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916.
Life and Death, 1460?Anonymous
W
Then no truce can be taken · no treasure on earth;
But all lordships be lost · and the life both.
If thou have pleased the Prince · that Paradise wieldeth,
There is no berne born · that may thy bliss reckon!
But if thou have wrongfully wrought · and wilt not amend,
Thou shalt bitterly bie · or else the Book faileth!
Why kill’st thou the body · that never care wrought?
The grass, nor the green trees · grievèd thee never!
But come forth, in their kinds · Christians to help,
With all beauty and bliss · that berne might devise.
But of my meiny thou marreth · marvelled I have,
How thou dar’st do them to death · each day so many!
And the handiwork of Him · that Heaven wieldeth!
How keepest thou his commandments · thou caitiff wretch!