| | W | Han that Apprill with his shouris sote | |
| | And the droughte of marche hath percid þe rote | |
| | And badid euery veyne in suche licour | |
| | Of whiche vertu engendrid is the flour | |
| 5 | Whanne zepherus eke with his sote breth | |
| | Enspirid hath in euery holte and heth | |
| | The tendir croppis / and the yong sonne | |
| | Hath in the ram half his cours y ronne | |
| | And smale foulis make melodie | |
| 10 | That slepyn al nyght with opyn ye | |
| | So prikith hem nature in her corage | |
| | Than longyng folk to gon on pilgremage | |
| | And palmers to seche straunge londis | |
| | To serue halowis couthe in sondry londis | |
| 15 | And specially fro euery shiris ende | |
| | Of yngelond to Cauntirbury thy wende | |
| | The holy blisful martir forto seke | |
| | That them hath holpyn when they were seke | |
| | A | Nd fil in that seson on a day | |
| 20 | In Suthwerk atte tabard as I lay | |
| | Redy to wende on my pilgremage | |
| | To Cauntirbury with deuout corage | |
| | That nyght was come in to that hosterye | |
| | Wel nyne & twenty in a companye | |
| 25 | Of sondry folk be auenture y falle | |
| | In feleship as pilgrymys were they alle | |
| | That toward Cauntirbury wolden ryde | |
| | The chambris and the stablis were wyde | |
| | And wel were they esid atte beste | |
