Ah, my dear, ah, my dear son!

'Ah, my dear, ah, my dear son!'

Said Mary: 'Ah my dear;

Kiss thy mother, Jesu,

With a laughing cheer.'

This enders night I saw a sight

All in my sleep:

Mary, that may, she sang lullay

And sore did weep.

To keep she sought full fast about

Her son fro cold:

Joseph said, 'Wife, my joy, my life,

Say what ye would.'

'Nothing, my spouse, is in this house

Unto my pay;

My Son, a king, that made all thing,

Lieth in hay.'

'My mother dear, amend your cheer,

And now be still:

Thus for to lie, it is soothly

My Father's will.

Derision, great passion,

Infinitely,

As it is found, many a wound

Suffer shall I.

On Calvary that is so high,

There shall I be,

Man to restore, nailed full sore

Upon a tree.'