The Devonshire Manuscript/lament my losse my labor and my payne
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| ←Payne of all payne the most grevos paine | what shulde I saye→ |
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f. [76v]
1 lament my losse my labor and my payne
2 all ye that here mye wofull playnte and crye
3 yf ever man might ons yor herte constrayne
4 to pytie wordes{es} of right yt shulde bee I
5 that sins . the tyme that youthe yn me ded rayne
6 my plesaunte yeris to bondage ded aplye
7 wiche as yt was I porpose to declare
8 wherebye my frindes{es} hereafter maye be ware
9 And if per{p+}chaunce some radrs list to muse
10 what menith me so playnlye for to wright
11 my good entente the fawte of yt shall skuse
12 wiche meane nothing but trulye tendyght to endite
13 the crafte and care the greef and long abuse
14 of lovors lawe and eke her puisssauntemight
15 wiche though that men oft tymes bye paynis doth kno.
16 lyttle thye wot wiche wayes the gylis doth growe
17 yet well ye kno yt will renwe my smar{m'}te
18 thus to reherse the paynes that I have past
19 my hand dothe shake my pen skant dothe his parte
20 my boddye quakes{es} my wyttis begynne to waste
21 twixt heate and colde in fere I fele my herte
22 {_i}{_a} pay panting for paine and thus as all agaste
23 I do remayne wo skant wotting what I wryd
24 perdon me then Rudelye tho I indyte
25 And patientelye o Rerdre I the praye
26 take in good parte this worke as yt ys men{_e}te
27 {{th}+t+}{w+t+} and greve the not with aught that I shall saye
28 sins with{w+t+} good will this boke a brode ys sente
29 to tell men I howe in youthe I ded assaye
30 what love ded mene and nowe I yt repente
31 that moving me my frindes{es} might well be ware
32 {_o}{_e} and kepe them fre from all suche payne and care /
fs
Commentary edit
Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt,[1] this poem was entered by H8. Here the speaker warns a friend of the grief and abuse caused by the “law” of lovers. While some scholars have argued that Wyatt based his poem on Petrarch's Rime I, Rebholz notes that the poem does not have enough similarities to constitute a direct translation or imitation; the poem, Rebholz argues, might have instead belonged to a group of poems Wyatt intended to send abroad, and this poem would "have been both a preface and an envoy in the medieval tradition of farewells to books."[2]