He came up close and kneeling gently downHe said, "My love, my dearest Alison,So help me God, I never again will hitYou, love; and if I did, you asked for it.
1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, “Wife of Bath's Prologue”, in Nevill Coghill, transl., The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977