The sorrowful narrator:

I have gret wonder, be this lyght,
How that I lyve, for day ne nyght
I may nat slepe wel nygh noght,
I have so many an ydel thoght,
Purely for defaute of slep,
That, by my trouthe, I take no kep
Of nothing, how hyt cometh or gooth,
Ne me nys nothyng leef ne looth.
Al is ylyche good to me -
Joye or sorowe, wherso hyt be -
For I have felynge in nothyng,
But, as yt were, a mased thyng,
Alway in poynt to falle a-doun;
For sorwful ymagynacioun
Ys alway hooly in my mynde.
(BD, Vv.1-15)

The dreamer gets the message:

"Sir," quod I, "where is she now?"
"Now?" quod he, and stynte anoon.
Therwith he wax as ded as stoon,
And seyde, "Allas, that I was bore!
That was the los that here-before
I tolde the that I hadde lorn.
Bethenke how I seyde here-beforn,
'Thow wost ful lytel what thow menest;
I have lost more than thow wenest' -
God wot, allas! ryght that was she!"
"Allas, sir, how? what may that be?"
"She ys ded!" "Nay!" "Yis, me ny trouthe!"
Is that youre los? Be God, hyt ys routhe!"
(BD, Vv. 1298-1310)

Specimen: Book of the Duchess
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