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Home  »  The Poetical Works by Sir Thomas Wyatt  »  The Lover describeth his being taken with sight of his Love

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

Odes

The Lover describeth his being taken with sight of his Love

UNWARILY so was never no man caught,

With steadfast look upon a goodly face,

As I of late: for suddenly, methought,

My heart was torn out of his place.

Though mine eye the stroke from hers did slide,

And down directly to my heart it ran;

In help whereof the blood did glide,

And left my face both pale and wan.

Then was I like a man for woe amazed,

Or like the fowl that fleeth into the fire;

For while that I upon her beauty gazed,

The more I burn’d in my desire.

Anon the blood start in my face again,

Inflam’d with heat, that it had at my heart,

And brought therewith, throughout in every vein,

A quaking heat with pleasant smart.

Then was I like the straw, when that the flame

Is driven therein by force and rage of wind;

I cannot tell, alas, what I shall blame,

Nor what to seek, nor what to find.

But well I wot the grief doth hold me sore

In heat and cold, betwixt both hope and dread.

That, but her help to health doth me restore,

This restless life I may not lead.