Poems from 'Agaynste a Comely Coystrowne' and 'Dyuers Balettys and Dyties Solacyous'
By John Skelton


  Cuncta licet cecidisse putas discrimina rerum,
     Et prius incerta nunc tibi certa manent,
Consiliis usure meis tamen aspice caute,
     Subdola non fallat te dea fraude sua :
Sæpe solet placido mortales fallere vultu,
     Et cute sub placida tabida sæpe dolent ;
Ut quando secura putas et cuncta serena,
     Anguis sub viridi gramine sæpe latet.
Though ye suppose all jeperdys ar paste,
     And all is done that ye lokyd for before,
Ware yet, I rede you, of Fortunes dowble cast,
     For one fals poynt she is wont to kepe in store,
     And vnder the fell oft festered is the sore :
That when ye thynke all daunger for to pas,
Ware of the lesard lyeth lurkyng in the gras.
Qd Skelton, laureat.


 


Source:
Skelton, John. The Poetical Works of John Skelton. Vol. I.
Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1866. 33.


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