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Home  »  The Poetical Works by Sir Thomas Wyatt  »  He repenteth that he had ever loved

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–42). The Poetical Works. 1880.

Odes

He repenteth that he had ever loved

NOW must I learn to live at rest,

And wean me of my will;

For I repent where I was prest

My fancy to fulfil.

I may no longer more endure

My wonted life to lead;

But I must learn to put in ure

The change of womanhed.

I may not see my service long

Rewarded in such wise;

Nor I may not sustain such wrong

That ye my love despise.

I may not sigh in sorrow deep,

Nor wail the want of love;

Nor I may neither crouch nor creep

Where it doth not behove.

But I of force must needs forsake

My faith so fondly set;

And from henceforth must undertake

Such folly to forget.

Now must I seek some other ways

Myself for to withsave;

And as I trust by mine essays

Some remedy to have.

I ask none other remedy

To recompense my wrong;

But once to have the liberty

That I have lack’d so long.