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D'argent me plains, non d'amours ou d'amye
dont je ne puis la jouyssance avoir,
car sans argent fortune est ennemye
à cel qui veult tout ses desirs avoir,
qui a d'argent et fust il sans scavoir,
pour le servir ung chascun s'appareille.
Mais comme on peult pour vray appercevoir,
faulte d'argent, c'est douleur non pareille.
English translation
Money is the burden of my complaint –
not love and not a woman friend
with whom I can take no pleasure
because, with no reward to offer, fortune is the foe
of any man wishing to have his way with one.
A man with money can be the greatest dullard alive:
still all and sundry run to do his bidding.
But as you know, and no one can gainsay,
being penniless is the greatest agony of all. Translation by Mick Swithinbank