William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.
The GiftAnonymous
F
To give unto my Lady:
I name no thing, nor I mean no thing,
But as pretty a thing as may be.
And twenty ways would hie me,
To make adventure for her sake,
To set some matter by me:
But fain would I have …
And some for strange devices:
God send me that my Lady lacks,
I care not what the price is.
Thus fain …
In every corner seeking
The pretty thing I cannot meet,
That’s for my Lady’s liking:
For fain …
The silk-wives say ‘What lack ye?’
‘The thing you have not,’ then say I:
‘Ye foolish knaves, go pack ye!’
But fain …
Nor all the golden treasure;
Nor twenty bushels on a heap
Can do my Lady pleasure.
But fain …
By any means to make it,
I could for money buy it than,
And say, ‘Fair Lady, take it!’
Thus fain …
That my good willing misseth
To find what pretty thing it is
That my Good Lady wisheth!
Thus fain would I have had this pretty thing
To give unto my Lady;
I said no harm, nor I meant no harm,
But as pretty a thing as may be.