Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968). rn The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.

The Preacher
(From “The Canterbury Tales”)

Chaucer, Geoffrey

Geoffrey Chaucer

(Early English poet, c.1340–1400)

THAN peyne I me to strecche forth my necke,

And est and west upon the people I bekke,

As doth a pigeon, syttyng on a loft;

Myn hondes and my tonge move so oft,

That it is joye to see my busynesse.

Of avarice and of suche cursedness

Is al my preching, for to make hem free

To give their pence, and namely unto me.…

Therfor my theem is yit, and ever was,

The root of evils is cupidity.

Thus can I preche agayn the same vice

Which that I use, and that is avarice.

But though myself be gilty in the same,

Yit can I maken other folks to blame.