1
" 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 looseth 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 none occasion.
Without eyen I see, and without tongue I plain;
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. "
― Thomas Wyatt , Selected Poems
4
" Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, hélas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Sithens 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 with diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about:
Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame. "
― Thomas Wyatt
8
" 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,
And wild to hold, though I seem tame."
Sir Thomas Wyatt "
― Thomas Wyatt
19
" If chance assign’d
Were to my mind
By very kind
Of destiny,
Yet would I crave
Nought else to have
But life and liberty.
Then were I sure
I might endure
The displeasure
Of cruelty:
Where now I plain,
Alas, in vain,
Lacking my life for liberty.
For without the one
The other is gone,
Ad there can none
It remedy:
If the one be past
The other doth waste,
And all for lack of liberty.
And so I drive,
As yet alive,
Although I strive
With misery:
Drawing my breath,
Looking for death
And loss of life for liberty.
But thou that still
Mayst at thy will
Turn all this ill
Adversity:
For the repair
Of my welfare
Grant me but life and liberty.
And if not so,
Then let all go
To wretched woe,
And let me die:
For the one or the other,
There is none other:
My death, or life with liberty.
- Poem XLI from "Songs and Lyrics "
― Thomas Wyatt
20
" The knot which first my heart did strain,
When that your servant I became,
Doth bind me still for to remain
Always your own as now I am.
And if you find that I do feign,
With just judgment myself I damn,
To have disdain.
If other thought in me do grow
But still to love you steadfastly,
If that the proof do not well show
That I am yours assuredly,
Let every wealth turn me to woe
And you to be continually
My chiefest foe.
If other love or new request
Do seize my heart but ony this,
Or if within my wearied breast
Be hid one thought that means amiss,
I do desire that mine unrest
May still increase, and I to miss
That I love best.
If in my love there be one spot
Of false deceit or doubleness,
Or if I mind to slip this knot
By want of faith or steadfastness,
Let all my service be forgot
And when I would have chief redress
Esteem me not.
But if that I consume in pain
Of burning sighs and fervent love
And daily seek none other gain
But with my deed these words to prove,
Methink of right I should obtain
That ye would mind for to remove
Your great disdain.
And for the end of this my song,
Unto your hands I do submit
My deadly grief and pains to strong
Which in my heart be firmly shut,
And when ye list, redress my wrong,
Since well ye know this painful fit
Hath last too long.
- Poem LXX from "Songs and Lyrics "
― Thomas Wyatt
