University of Virginia Library

Shall I thus euer long

The ladye praieth the returne of of her louer abidyng on the seas.

Shall I thus euer long, and be no whit the neare,
And shal I styll complayn to thee, the which me will not here?
Alas say nay, say nay, and be no more so dome,
But open thou thy manly mouth, and say that thou wilt come.
Wherby my hart may thinke, although I see not thee,
That thou wilt come thy word so sware, if thou a liues man be.
The roaryng hugy waues, they threaten my pore ghost,
And tosse thee vp and downe the seas, in daunger to be lost.
Shall they not make me feare that they haue swalowed thee,
But as thou art most sure aliue so wilt thou come to me.
Wherby I shall go see thy shippe ride on the strande
And thinke and say lo where he comes, and sure here will he land.
And then I shall lift vp to thee my little hande,
And thou shalt thinke thine hert in ease, in helth to se me stand.
And if thou come in dede (as Christ the send to do,)
Those armes which misse thee now shall then imbrace thee to.
Ech vaine to euery ioynt, the liuely bloud shall spred,
Which now for want of thy glad sight, doth show full pale & dead.
But if thou slip thy trouth and do not come at all,
As minutes in the clocke do strike so call for death I shall.
To please bothe thy false hart, and rid my self from wo,
That rather had to dye in trouth then liue forsaken so.