I have a gentil cok,
Croweth me day;
He doth me risen erly,
My matins for to say.
I have a gentil cok,
Comen he is of gret;
His comb is of red corel,
His tayel is of jet.
I have a gentil cok
Comen he is of kinde;
His comb is of red corel,
His tail is of inde.
His legges ben of asor,
So gentil and so smale;
His spores arn of silver white,
Into the worte-wale.
His eynen arn of cristal,
Loken all in aumber;
And every night he percheth him
In min ladyes chaumber.
Editors' Notes:
gentil - noble
Comen he is of gret - He comes of a great family.
Comen he is of kinde - He is of good lineage.
inde - indigo
asor - azure
spores - spurs
worte-wale - root of cock's spur
eynen - eyes
loken - set
Source of the text - Middle English Lyrics: A Norton Critical Edition, selected and edited by Maxwell S. Luria and Richard L. Hoffman. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1974, page 77.
TJB: Gentle dick energy; double-entendre as a source of poetic power. In short iambics, the poem gives us a fabulous, near-deadpan blazon of a rooster.
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