A good Wife was there of beside Bath, <br />But she was somewhat deaf, and that was scathe. <br />Of cloth making she had such a haunt <br />She passed them of Ypres and of Ghent. <br />In all the parish wife was there none <br />That to the offering before her should go on; <br />And if they did, certain so wroth was she <br />That she was out of all charity. <br />Her coverchiefs full fine were of ground; <br />I do swear they weighed ten pound <br />That on a Sunday were upon her head. <br />Her hose were of fine scarlet red, <br />Full straight tied, and shoes full moist and new. <br />Bold was her face, and fair, and red of hew. <br />She was a worthy woman all her life: <br />Husbands at church door she had five, <br />Without them other company in youth - <br />But there's no need to speak right now. <br />And thrice had she been at Jerusalem; <br />She had passed many a strange stream; <br />At Rome she had been, and at Boulogne, <br />In Galicia at Saint Jame, and at Cologne. <br />She could much of wandering by the way. <br />Gap-toothed was she, truly for to say. <br />Upon an ambler easily she sat, <br />Wimpled well, and on her head a hat <br />As broad as is a buckler or a targe; <br />A foot-mantle about her hips large, <br />And on her feet a pair of spurs sharp. <br />In fellowship well could she laugh and carp. <br />Of remedies of love she knew per chance, <br />For she knew of that art the old dance. <br /> <br />© 2009 Forrest Hainline<br /><br />Forrest Hainline<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/general-prologue-17-the-wife-of-bath-geoffrey-chaucer-forrest-hainline-s-minimalist-translation/
