No man can tell whither

Justice now is dead.
Truth with a drowsy head
As heavy as the lead
Is laid down to sleep
And taketh no keep.*

And Right is over the fallows
Gone to seek hallows**
With Reason together,
No man can tell whither.

No man will undertake
The first twain to wake.

And the twain last
Be withhold so fast
With money, as men sayen,
They cannot come again.

* pays no attention
** gone on pilgrimage (hallows: saints)

John Skelton (c. 1460–1529)

from The Garland of Laurel (1523)

No man can tell whither

Justice now is dead.
Truth with a drowsy head
As heavy as the lead
Is laid down to sleep
And taketh no keep.*

And Right is over the fallows
Gone to seek hallows**
With Reason together,
No man can tell whither.

No man will undertake
The first twain to wake.

And the twain last
Be withhold so fast
With money, as men sayen,
They cannot come again.

* pays no attention
** gone on pilgrimage (hallows: saints)

John Skelton (c. 1460–1529)

from The Garland of Laurel (1523)