University of Virginia Library

VI
Poems from the Arundel Manuscript

CCXXXIV

[Hart oppressyd with desp'rat thought]

CCXXXV

[What thing is that, that I both have and lack]

CCXXXVI

[The piller pearisht is whearto I Lent]

The piller pearisht is whearto I Lent
The strongest staye of myne vnquyet mynde;
The lyke of it no man agayne can fynde
From East to west still seking though he went.
To myne vnhappe, for happe away hath rent
Of all my ioye the vearye bark and rynde;
And I (alas) by chaunce am thus assynde
Dearlye to moorne till death do it relent.
But syns that thus it is by destenye
What can I more but have a wofull hart,
My penne in playnt, my voyce in wofull crye,
My mynde in woe, my bodye full of smart,
And I my self my self alwayes to hate
Till dreadfull death do ease my dolefull state?

CCXXXVII

[A ladye gave me a gyfte she had not]

A ladye gave me a gyfte she had not
And I receyvid her guifte I toke not.
She gave it me willinglye, and yet she wold not,
And I receyvid it, albeit I coulde not.
If she geve it me, I force not;
And, yf she take it agayne, she cares not.
Conster what this is and tell not,
Ffor I am fast sworne, I maye not.

CCXXXVIII

[The flaming Sighes that boile within my brest]

The flaming Sighes that boile within my brest
Somtyme brake forthe and they can well declare
The hartes vnrest and how that it doth fare,
The payne thearof, the greef and all the rest.
The watrid eyes from whence the teares do fall
Do feele some force or ells they wolde be drye;
The wasted flesshe of cowlour dead can trye
And Some thing tell what Sweetnes is in gall;
And he that list to see and to discerne
How care can force within a weried mynd
Come hee to me, I am that place assynd.
But for all this no force; it dothe no harme
The wound, alas, happ in some other place
Ffrom whence no toole away the skarr can race.
But you that of suche like have had your part
Can best be iudge, whearfore, my frend so deare,
I thought it good my state shuld now appeare
To you, and that there is no great desert;
And whear as you in weightie matters great
Of ffortune saw the shadow that you know,
Ffor trifling thinges I now am stryken soo
That thoughe I feele my hart doth wound and beat,
I sitt alone, save on the second day
My ffeaver comes with whome I spend the tyme
In burning heat whyle that she list assigne;
And whoe hath health and libertie alwaye,
Let hym thanck god and lett hym not provoke
To have the lyke of this my paynefull stroke.

CCXXXIX
Th' Argument

Somtyme the pryde of mye assured trothe
Contemned all helpp of good and eke of man:
But when I saw man blyndlye how goi'the
In demyng hartes, whiche none but god there can,
And his domes hyd wheareby mans Malyce growth,
Myne Earle, this doute my hart did humble than
Ffor errour so might murder Innocence.
Then sang I thus in god my confydence.

CCXL

[Stond who so list vpon the Slipper toppe]

Stond who so list vpon the Slipper toppe
Of courtes estates, and lett me heare reioyce;
And vse me quyet without lett or stoppe,
Vnknowen in courte, that hath suche brackish ioyes.
In hidden place, so lett my dayes forthe passe,
That when my yeares be done, withouten noyse,
I may dye aged after the common trace.
For hym death greep'the right hard by the croppe
That is moche knowen of other, and of him self alas,
Doth dye vnknowen, dazed with dreadfull face.