Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–42). The Poetical Works. 1880.
Songs and EpigramsOf such as had forsaken him
L
How well pleasant it were your liberty!
Ye not forsake me, that fair might you fall.
But they that sometime liked my company,
Like lice away from dead bodies they crawl:
Lo, what a proof in light adversity!
But ye, my birds, I swear by all your bells,
Ye be my friends, and very few else.