They Flee From Me That Sometime Did Me Seek

THEY flee from me that sometime did me seek,

With naked foot stalking in my chamber.

I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek

That are now wild and do not remember

That sometime they put themselves in danger

To take bread at my hand; and now they range

Busily seeking with a continual change.

Thanked be fortune, it hath been otherwise

Twenty times better; but once in special,

In thin array after a pleasant guise,

When her loose gown did from her shoulders did fall,

And she me caught in her arms long and small,

Therewithall sweetly did me kiss,

And softly said, "Dear heart, how like you this?"

It was no dream, I lay broad waking.

But all is turned thorough my gentleness,

Into a strange fashion of forsaking;

And I have leave to go of her goodness,

And she also to use newfangleness.

But since that I so kindly am served,

I would fain know what she hath deserved.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

The Long Love

The long love that in my thought doth harbour,

And in mine heart doth keep his residence,

Into my face presseth with bold pretence,

And therein campeth, spreading his banner.

She that me learneth to love and suffer,

And wills that my trust and lust's negligence

Be reined by reason, shame, and reverence,

With his hardiness taketh displeasure.

Wherewithal, unto the heart's forest he fleeth,

Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry;

And there him hideth, and not appeareth.

What may I do when my master feareth

But in the field with him to live or die?

For good is the life ending faithfully.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Whoso List to Hunt

WHOSO list to hunt, I know where is an hind,

But as for me, helas! I may no more.

The vain travail hath worried me so sore,

I am of them that furthest come behind.

Yet may I by no means, my worried mind

Draw from the deer; but as she fleeth afore

Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,

Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.

Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,

As well as I, may spend his time in vain;

And graven in diamonds in letters plain

There is written, her fair neck round about,

"Noli me tangere,* for Caesar's I am,           [touch me not]

And wild to hold, though I seem tame."

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Forget Not Yet

FORGET not yet the tried intent

Of such a truth as I have meant

My great travail so gladly spent

        Forget not yet.

Forget not yet when first began

The weary life ye knew, since whan

The suit, the service, none tell can,

        Forget not yet.

Forget not yet the great assays,

The cruel wrongs, the scornful ways,

The painful patience in denays

        Forget not yet.

Forget not yet, forget not this,

How long ago hath been, and is,

The mind that never means amiss;

        Forget not yet.

Forget not yet thine own approved,

The which so long hath thee so loved,

Whose steadfast faith yet never moved,

        Forget not this.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

My Galley Chargèd with Forgetfulness

MY galley chargèd with forgetfulness

Through sharp seas in winter nights doth pass

'Twene rock and rock; and eke mine enemy, alas,

That is my lord, steereth with cruelness.

And every oar a thought in readiness

As though that death were light in such a case;

An endless wind doth tear the sail apace

Of forcèd sighs and trusty fearfulness.

A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain

Hath done the wearied cords great hindrance,

Wreathèd with error and eke with ignorance.

The stars be hid that led me to this pain,

Drownèd is reason that should me comfort,

And I remain despairing of the port.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

My Lute, Awake

MY labor that thou and I shall waste

And end that I have now begun,

For when this song is sung and past,

My lute, be still, for I have done.

As to be heard where ear is none,

As lead to grave in marble stone,

My song may pierce her heart as soon.

Should we then sigh or sing or moan?

No, no, my lute, for I have done.

Proud of the spoil that thou hast got

Of simple hearts through love's shot,

By whom, unkind, thou hast them won,

Think not he hath his bow forgot,

Although my lute and I have done.

Vengance shall fall on thy disdain

That makest but game on earnest pain;

Think not alone under the sun

Unquit to cause thy lovers plain

Although my lute and I have done.

Perchance thee lie withered and old

The winter nights that are so cold,

Plaining in vain unto the moon;

Thy wishes then dare not be told.

Care then who list, for I have done.

And then may chance thee to repent

The time that thou hast lost and spnt

To cause thy lovers sigh and swoon;

Then shalt thou know beauty but lent,

And wish and want as I have done.

Now cease, my lute, this is the last

Labor that thou and I shall waste

And ended is that we begun.

Now is the song both sung and past;

My lute, be still, for I have done.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Farewell, Love

FAREWELL, Love, and all thy laws for ever:

Thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more.

Senec and Plato call me from thy lore,

To perfect wealth my wit for to endeavour.

In blind error when I did persever,

Thy sharp repulse, that pricketh aye so sore,

Hath taught me to set in trifles no store,

And scape forth, since liberty is lever*.             [desirable]

Therefore farewell, go trouble younger hearts,

And in me claim no more authority;

With idle youth go use thy property,

And thereon spend thy many brittle darts.

For, hitherto though I've lost my time,

Me lusteth no longer rotten boughs to climb.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

I Find No Peace

I FIND no peace, and all my war is done;

I fear, and hope. I burn, and freeze like ice.

I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise.

And naught I have, and all the world I seize on.

That loseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison,

And holdeth me not, yet can I 'scape nowise;

Nor letteth me live nor die at my devise,

And yet of death it giveth me occasion.

Without eyen* I see, and without tongue I plain;             [eyes]

I desire to perish, and yet I ask health;

I love another, and thus I hate myself;

I feed me in sorrow, and laugh at all my pain.

Likewise displeaseth me both death and life,

And my delight is causer of this strife.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

With Serving Still

WITH serving still

This I have won,

For my goodwill

To be undone.

And for redress

Of all my pain,

Disdainfulness

I have again.

And for reward

Of all my smart,

Lo, thus unheard,

I must depart.

Wherefore all ye

That after shall

By fortune be,

As I am, thrall,

Example take

What I have won,

Thus for her sake

To be undone.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Lux, My Fair Falcon

LUX, my fair falcon, and your fellows all,

How well pleasant it were your liberty.

Ye not forsake me that fair might ye befall,

But they that sometime liked my company,

Like lice away from dead bodies they crawl.

Lo, what a proof in light adversity.

But ye, my birds, I swear by all your bells,

Ye be my friends, and so be but few else.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Madame, withouten many words

MADAME, withouten many words,

Once, I am sure, ye will, or no:

And if ye will, then leave your bourds*,             [jests]

And use your wit, and show it so,

And with a beck you shall me call,

And if of one that burneth alway

Ye have any pity at all,

Answer him fair with yea or nay.

If it be yea, I shall be fain*;            [willing]

If it be nay, friends as before;

Ye shall another man obtain,

And I mine own and yours no more.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

The Furious Gun

THE furious gun in his raging ire,

When that the bowl is rammed in too sore

And that the flame cannot part from the fire,

Cracketh in sunder, and in the air doth roar

The shivered pieces; right so doth my desire,

Whose flame increaseth from more to more,

Which to let out I dare not look or speak;

So now hard force my heart doth all to break.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Satire II:The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse

MY mother's maids, when they did sew and spin,

They sang sometime a song of the field mouse,

That for because her livelood* was but thin             [livelihood]

Would needs go seek her townish sister's house.

She thought herself endured to much pain:

The stormy blasts her cave so sore did souse

That when the furrows swimmed with the rain

She must lie cold and wet in sorry plight,

And, worse than that, bare meat there did remain

To comfort her when she her house had dight:

Sometime a barleycorn, sometime a bean,

For which she labored hard both day and night

In harvest time, whilst she might go and glean.

And when her store was 'stroyed with the flood,

Then well away, for she undone was clean.

Then was she fain to take, instead of food,

Sleep if she might, her hunger to beguile.

"My sister," qoth she, "hath a living good,

And hence from me she dwelleth not a mile.

In cold and storm she lieth warm and dry

In bed of down, and dirt doth not defile

Her tender foot, she laboreth not as I.

Richly she feedeth and at the rich man's cost,

And for her meat she needs not crave nor cry.

By sea, by land, of the delicates the most

Her cater seeks and spareth for no peril.

She feedeth on boiled, baken meat, and roast,

And hath thereof neither charge nor travail.

And, when she list, the liquor of the grape

Doth goad her heart till that her belly swell."

And at this journey she maketh but a jape*:             [joke]

So forth she goeth, trusting of all this wealth

With her sister her part so for to shape

That, if she might keep herself in health,

To live a lady while her life doth last.

And to the door now is she come by stealth,

And with her foot anon she scrapeth full fast.

The other for fear durst not well scarce appear,

Of every noise so was the wretch aghast.

"Peace," quoth the town mouse, "why speakest thou so loud?"

And by the hand she took her fair and well.

"Welcome," quoth she, "my sister, by the rood."

She feasted her that joy is was to tell

The fare they had; they drank the wine so clear;

And as to purpose now and then it fell

She cheered her with: "How, sister, what cheer?"

Amids this joy there fell a sorry chance,

That, wellaway, the stranger bought full dear

The fare she had. For as she looks, askance,

Under a stool she spied two steaming eyes

In a round head with sharp ears. In France

was never mouse so feared*, for though the unwise             [afraid]

Had not yseen* such a beast before,

Yet had nature taught her after her guise

To know her foe and dread him evermore.

The town mouse fled; she knew whither to go.

The other had no shift, but wondrous sore

Feared of her life, at home she wished her, though.

And to the door, alas, as she did skip

(Th' heaven it would, lo, and eke her chance was so)

At the threshold her silly foot did trip,

And ere she might recover it again

The traitor cat had caught her by the hip

And made her there against her will remain

That had forgotten her poor surety, and rest,

For seeming wealth wherein she thought to reign.

Alas, my Poynz*, how men do seek the best            [a friend of Wyatt]

And find the worst, by error as they stray.

And no marvel, when sight is so opprest

And blind the guide. Anon out of the way

Goeth guide and all in seeking quiet life.

O wretched minds, there is no gold that may

Grant that ye seek, no war, no peace, no strife,

No, no, although thy head was hoopt* with gold,             [crowned]

Sergeant with mace, haubert, sword, nor knife

Cannot repulse the care that follow should.

Each kind of life hath with him his disease:

Live in delight even as thy lust would*,             [as you would desire]

And thou shalt find when lust doth most thee please

It irketh strait and by itself doth fade.

A small thing it is that may thy mind appease.

None of ye all there is that is so mad

To seek grapes upon brambles or breers*,             [briars]

Not none I trow that hath his wit so bad

To set his hay for conies* over rivers,             [snares for rabbits]

Ne* ye set not a drag net for an hare.             [nor]

And yet the thing that most is your desire

Ye do misseek with more travail and care.

Make plain thine heart, that it be not notted

With hope or dread, and see thy will be bare

>From all effects whom vice hath ever spotted.

Thyself content with that is thee assigned,

And use it well that is to thee allotted,

Then seek no more out of thyself to find

The thing that thou hast sought so long before,

For thou shalt find it sitting in thy mind.

Mad, if ye list to continue your sore,

Let present pass, and gape on time to come,

And deep yourself in travail more and more.

Henceforth, my Poynz, this shall be all and some:

These wretched fools shall have nought else of me.

But to the great God and to His high doom*             [judgment]

None other pain pray I for them to be

But, when the rage doth lead them from the right,

That, looking backward, Virtue they may see

Even as She is, so goodly fair and bright.

And whilst they clasp their lusts in arms across

Grant them, good Lord, as Thou mayst of Thy might,

To fret inward for losing such a loss.

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Translation of Petrarch's Rima, Sonnet 134

I FIND no peace, and all my war is done;

I fear and hope; I burn and freeze like ice;

I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise;

And nought I have, and all the world I seize on;

That looseth nor locketh holdeth me in prison

And holdeth me not, yet can I 'scape nowise;

Nor letteth me live nor die at my device*,             [by my own choice]

And yet of death it giveth none occasion.

Withouten eyen, I see; and without tongue I plain*;             [lament]

I desire to perish, and yet I ask health;

I love another, and thus I hate myself;

I feed me in sorrow, and laugh in all my pain;

Likewise displeaseth me both death and life;

And my delight is causer of this strife.

Sir Thomas Wyatt