THE LOVER WAXETH WISER, AND WILL

NOT DIE FOR AFFECTION.1

Y ET was I never of your love aggrieved,
   Nor never shall while my life doth
        last :
But of hating myself, that date is past ;
And tears continual sore have me wearied.
I will not yet in my grave be buried ;
Nor on my tomb your name have fixed fast,
As cruel cause, that did the spirit soon haste
From th' unhappy bones, by great sighs stirred.
Then if a heart of amorous faith and will
Content your mind withouten doing grief ;
Please it you so to this to do relief :
If otherwise you seek for to fulfil
    Your wrath, you err, and shall not as you ween ;
    And you yourself the cause thereof have been.


1  Petrarch, Son. 61.


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Text source:
Yeowell, James, Ed. The Poetical Works of Sir Thomas Wyatt.
London: George Bell and Sons, 1904. 2.


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Created by Anniina Jokinen on January 15, 2000. Last updated January 16, 2012.









Ritratto di giovane gentil'uomo.
Lorenzo Lotto, c. 1527