But thilke God that made wynd to blowe
As kepe my lord! This my conclusion…
But wolde God that alle thise rokkes blake
Were sonken into helle for his sake!
Thise rokkes sleen myn herte for the feere.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Franklin’s Tale. Dorigen prays to God to keep her husband Arveragus from perishing on the rocks off the coast of Brittany. She is fearful that the rocks will sink his ship and kill him on his way home from war. She wishes that they were sunken into hell, forshadowing her request to Aurelius to remove the rocks.