“O chastë goddess of the woodës green, To whom both heav’n and earth and sea is seen, Queen of the realm of Pluto dark and low, Goddess of maidens, that mine heart hast know Full many a year, and wost what I desire, To keep me from the vengeance of thine ire, That Actaeon aboughtë cruelly: Chastë goddéss, well wottest thou that I Desire to be a maiden all my life, Nor never will I be no love nor wife. I am, thou wost, yet of thy company, A maid, and love hunting and venery, And for to walken in the woodës wild, And not to be a wife, and be with child. Nought will I know the company of man. Now help me, lady, since ye may and can, For those three formës that thou hast in thee. And Palamon, that hath such love to me, And eke Arcite, that loveth me so sore, This grace I prayë thee withoutë more, As sendë love and peace betwixt them two: And from me turn away their heartës so, That all their hotë love, and their desire, And all their busy torment, and their fire, Be queint, or turn’d into another place. And if so be thou wilt do me no grace, Or if my destiny be shapen so That I shall needës have one of them two, So send me him that most desireth me. Behold, goddess of cleanë chastity, The bitter tears that on my cheekës fall. Since thou art maid, and keeper of us all, My maidenhead thou keep and well conserve, And, while I live, a maid I will thee serve.”
The firës burn upon the altar clear, While Emily was thus in her prayére: But suddenly she saw a sightë quaint. For right anon one of the firës queint And quick’d again, and after that anon That other fire was