Collected poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt :: :: University of Virginia Library

Collected poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt

Edited by Kenneth Muir and Patricia Thomson

Wyatt, Thomas (1503?-1542)

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CXL

[I am as I am and so wil I be]

I am as I am and so wil I be,
But how that I am none knoith trulie;
Be yt evill, be yt well, be I bonde, be I fre,
I am as I am and so will I be.

I lede my lif indifferentelye,
I meane no thing but honestelie,
And thoughe folkis judge full dyverslye,
I am as I am and so will I dye.

149

I doo not rejoise nor yet complayne;
Both myrth and sadness I do refrayne;
And vse the mene sens folkys wyll fayne;
Yet I am as I am, be hit pleasure or payne.

Men doo juge as they doo trow,
Sum of pleasure, and sum of woo;
Yet for all that nothing they know;
But I am as I am wheresoeuer I goo.

But sens that Judgers take that way,
Let euery man his judgement say;
I wyll hit take in sport and play,
Yet I am as I am whoosoeuer say nay.

Who Judggis well, god well them send;
Whoo Judgith yll, god them amend;
To juge the best therefore intend;
For I am as I am and soo wyll I end.

Yet sum therbe that take delyght
To Judge folkes thowght by outward sight;
But whether they Judge wrong or Right,
I am as I am and soo doo I wright.

I pray ye all that this doo rede,
To trust hit as ye doo your cred,
And thynck not that I wyll change my wede,
For I am as I am how sooeuer I spede.

But how that ys I leue to you;
Judge as ye lyst, false or trew;
Ye know no more then afore ye knew;
But I am as I am whatsoeuer insew.

And frome this mynd I wyll not flee;
But to all them that mysejudge me

150

I do protest, as ye doo se,
That I am as I am and soo wyll I dy.