Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BALLADE: 21, by THOMAS WYATT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLADE: 21, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: To my mishap, alas, I find
Last Line: Thus am I warned.
Alternate Author Name(s): Wyat, Thomas
Subject(s): Fortune; Happiness; Pain; Joy; Delight; Suffering; Misery


To my mishap, alas, I find
That happy hap is dangerous;
And Fortune worketh but her kind
To make the joyful dolorous.
But all too late it comes in mind
To wail the want which made me blind,
So often warned.

Amidst my mirth and pleasantness
Such chance is chanced suddenly
That in despair to have redress
I find my chiefest remedy.
No new kind of unhappiness
Should thus have left me comfortless,
So often warned.

Who could have thought that my request
Should have brought forth such bitter fruit?
But now is happed that I feared least
And all this grief comes by my suit;
For where I thought me happiest
Even there I found my chiefest unrest,
So often warned.

In better case was never none
And yet unwares thus am I trapped.
My chief desire doth cause me moan
And to my pain my wealth is happed.
Was never man but I alone
That had such hap to wail and groan,
So often warned.

Thus am I taught for to beware
And not to trust such pleasant chance.
My happy hap has bred this care
And turned my mirth to great mischance.
There is no man that hap will spare
But, when she list, our health is bare.
Thus am I warned.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net