Mayden moder milde: introduction
London, British Library, Harley MS 2253, f. 83r

The poem is a macaronic hymn to the Virgin, with alternate lines in Middle English and Old French; although the tone has a hint of courtliness (lines 9-10), the main focus is on the story of the Passion.  That the speaker is a generic sinner rather than a particular individual is clear from the last stanza, where the poem itself speaks: 'Whoever is willing to sing me / will receive great forgiveness'.

Brook (1968), pp. 86-87, links the opening stanza with the short English prayer which concludes Dan Michel of Northgate's moral treatise Ayenbite of Inwit (Canterbury, 1340; London, British Library, Arundel MS 57, f. 96v):