The Poems of Henry Howard :: :: University of Virginia Library

To dearly had I bought my grene and youthfull yeres,
If in mine age I could not finde when craft for loue apperes;
And seldom though I come in court among the rest,
Yet can I iudge in colours dim as depe as can the best.
Where grefe tormentes the man that suffreth secret smart,
To breke it forth vnto som frend it easeth well the hart.
So standes it now with me for my beloued frend.
This case is thine for whom I fele such torment of my minde,
And for thy sake I burne so in my secret brest
That till thou know my hole disseyse my hart can haue no rest.
I se how thine abuse hath wrested so thy wittes
That all it yeldes to thy desire, and folowes the by fittes.
Where thou hast loued so long with hart and all thy power,
I se thee fed with fayned wordes, thy freedom to deuour.
I know—though she say nay, and would it well withstand—
When in her grace thou held the most, she bare the but in hand.
I see her pleasant chere in chiefest of thy suite;
Whan thou art gone, I se him come that gathers vp the fruite.
And eke in thy respect I se the base degre
Of him to whom she gaue the hart that promised was to the.
I se—what would you more—stode neuer man so sure
On womans word, but wisedome would mistrust it to endure.