A Clerk there was of Oxford also,
That unto logic had long ago.
As lean was his horse as is a rake,
And he was not right fat, I undertake,
But looked hollow, and thereto soberly,
Full threadbare was his outer courtepy,
For he had gotten him yet no benefice,
Nor was so worldly for to have office.
For he would rather have at his bed’s head
Twenty books, clad in black or red,
Or Aristotle and his philosophy
Than robes rich, or fiddle, or gay psaltry.
But all be that he was a philosopher,
Yet had he but little gold in coffer;
But all that he might of his friends hente,
On books and on learning he it spent,
And busily go on for the soul’s prayer
Of them that gave him werewith to scholar.
Of study took he most cure and most heed.
Not a word spoke he more than was need,
And that was said in form and reverence,
And short and quick and full of high sentence;
Sown in moral virtue was his speech,
And gladly would he learn and gladly teach.
© 2008 Forrest Hainline
Forrest Hainline
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/general-prologue-10-the-clerk-geoffrey-chaucer-forrest-hainline-s-minimalist-translation/
