Thapostel writ unto ous alle And seith that upon ous is falle Thende of the world; so may we knowe, This ymage is nyh overthrowe, Be which this world was signified, That whilom was so magnefied, And now is old and fieble and vil, Full of meschief and of peril, And stant divided ek also Lich to the feet that were so, 890 As I tolde of the Statue above. And this men sen, thurgh lacke of love Where as the lond divided is, It mot algate fare amis: And now to loke on every side, A man may se the world divide, The werres ben so general Among the cristene overal, That every man now secheth wreche, And yet these clerkes alday preche 900 And sein, good dede may non be Which stant noght upon charite: I not hou charite may stonde, Wher dedly werre is take on honde. Bot al this wo is cause of man, The which that wit and reson can, And that in tokne and in witnesse That ilke ymage bar liknesse Of man and of non other beste. For ferst unto the mannes heste 910 Was every creature ordeined, Bot afterward it was restreigned: Whan that he fell, thei fellen eke, Whan he wax sek, thei woxen seke; For as the man hath passioun Of seknesse, in comparisoun So soffren othre creatures. Lo, ferst the hevenly figures, The Sonne and Mone eclipsen bothe, And ben with mannes senne wrothe; 920 The purest Eir for Senne alofte Hath ben and is corrupt fulofte, Right now the hyhe wyndes blowe, And anon after thei ben lowe, Now clowdy and now clier it is: So may it proeven wel be this, A mannes Senne is forto hate, Which makth the welkne to debate. And forto se the proprete Of every thyng in his degree, 930 Benethe forth among ous hiere Al stant aliche in this matiere: The See now ebbeth, now it floweth, The lond now welketh, now it groweth, Now be the Trees with leves grene, Now thei be bare and nothing sene, Now be the lusti somer floures, Now be the stormy wynter shoures, Now be the daies, now the nyhtes, So stant ther nothing al upryhtes, 940 Now it is lyht, now it is derk; And thus stant al the worldes werk After the disposicioun Of man and his condicioun. Forthi Gregoire in his Moral Seith that a man in special The lasse world is properly: And that he proeveth redely; For man of Soule resonable Is to an Angel resemblable, 950 And lich to beste he hath fielinge, And lich to Trees he hath growinge; The Stones ben and so is he: Thus of his propre qualite The man, as telleth the clergie, Is as a world in his partie, And whan this litel world mistorneth, The grete world al overtorneth. The Lond, the See, the firmament, Thei axen alle jugement 960 Ayein the man and make him werre: Therwhile himself stant out of herre, The remenant wol noght acorde: And in this wise, as I recorde, The man is cause of alle wo, Why this world is divided so.