31. The Plain-Dealing Woman And Man

 

A dog-walker comes to my mind,
That concerned training heel to hold,
Plain dealing’s a stray one most rare,
As ownerless alone in the cold,
And wherefore no faithlessness here,
To care more, therefore it is penned,
These verses shall make the good purpose,
No honest truth’s cause to offend,
For this I will make it appear,
And prove by experience I can,
They are characters lost in the world:
The plain-dealing woman and man.

For most are so impudent grown,
They dominate, disparage, for wagers,
The plain-dealing woman and man,
Are since, born to die as beggars,
No Saint as once honestly given,
Does at such evil actions protest,
As everyone as faithful-minded,
Will say that plain dealing has crest,
For this I will make it appear,
And prove by experience I can,
They are characters lost in the world:
The plain-dealing woman and man.

For I am a plain-dealing man,
And to lie and to cheat am unwilling,
Yet to live upright in the world,
Takes product that costs me my shilling,
Moreover, my clothes are threadbare,
And my calling is simple and poor,
And I am unable myself,
To keep off the wolves from the door,
For this I will make it appear,
And prove by experience I can,
They are characters lost in the world:
The plain-dealing woman and man.

Now, as nature must run its course,
As such running against the hard wind,
Those qualities which all of you know,
And those of base nature consigned,
Here come the dissembling knaves,
And robbers whomever they be,
And the slattern, harlots, and such like,
Who take my last dollar from me,
For this I will make it appear,
And prove by experience I can,
They are characters lost in the world:
The plain-dealing woman and man.