276.

In Imagine Pertransit Homo

FOLLOW thy fair sun, unhappy shadow!

Though thou be black as night,

And she made all of light,

Yet follow thy fair sun, unhappy shadow!

Follow her, whose light thy light depriveth!
Though here thou liv'st disgraced,

And she in heaven is placed,

Yet follow her whose light the world reviveth!

Follow those pure beams, whose beauty burneth!
That so have scorchèd thee,

As thou still black must be,

Till her kind beams thy black to brightness turneth.

Follow her, while yet her glory shineth!

There comes a luckless night

That will dim all her light;

And this the black unhappy shade divineth.

Follow still, since so thy fates ordained!

The sun must have his shade,

Till both at once do fade;

The sun still proved, the shadow still disdained.

T. Campion

277.

Thou May'st Repent

THEN men shall find thy flow'r, thy glory, pass,

WHEN

And thou with careful brow, sitting alone,
Received hast this message from thy glass,

That tells the truth and says that All is gone;
Fresh shalt thou see in me the wounds thou mad'st,
Though spent thy flame, in me the heat remaining:
I that have loved thee thus before thou fad'st
My faith shall wax, when thou art in thy waning.
The world shall find this miracle in me,

That fire can burn when all the matter's spent:
Then what my faith hath been thyself shalt see,
And that thou wast unkind thou may'st repent.
Thou may'st repent that thou hast scorned my tears,
When Winter snows upon thy sable hairs.

S. Daniel

278.

A Supplication

FORGET not yet the tried intent

Of such a truth as I have meant;
My great travail so gladly spent,
Forget not yet!

Forget not yet when first began
The weary life ye know, since whan
The suit, the service, none tell can;
Forget not yet!

Forget not yet the great assays,
The cruel wrong, the scornful ways,
The painful patience in delays,
Forget not yet!

Forget not! O, forget not this!
How long ago hath been, and is,
The mind that never meant amiss
Forget not yet!

Forget not then thine own approved,
The which so long hath thee so loved,
Whose steadfast faith yet never moved,
Forget not this!

Sir T. Wyat

279.

Vixi Puellis Nuper Idoneus

"

HEY flee from me that sometime did me seek,

THEY

With naked foot stalking within my chamber: Once have I seen them gentle, tame, and meek,

That now are wild, and do not once remember That sometime they have put themselves in danger To take bread at my hand; and now they range, Busily seeking in continual change.

Thanked be fortune, it hath been otherwise
Twenty times better; but once especial. —
In thin array: after a pleasant guise,

When her loose gown did from her shoulders fall, And she me caught in her arms long and small, And therewithal so sweetly did me kiss,

And softly said, Dear heart, how like you this?'

It was no dream; for I lay broad awaking:
But all is turn'd now, through my gentleness,
Into a bitter fashion of forsaking;

And I have leave to go of her goodness;
And she also to use new-fangleness.
But since that I unkindly so am servèd,

280.

'How like you this?' what hath she now deservèd?

The Indifferent

Sir T. Wyat

TEVER more will I protest

NEVE

To love a woman but in jest:

For as they cannot be true,
So to give each man his due,
When the wooing fit is past,
Their affection cannot last.

Therefore if I chance to meet
With a mistress fair and sweet,
She my service shall obtain,
Loving her for love again:

Thus much liberty I crave
Not to be a constant slave.

But when we have tried each other,
If she better like another,