Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BALLADE: 22, by THOMAS WYATT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLADE: 22, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Since love is such that, as ye wot
Last Line: The power wherein I am possessed.
Alternate Author Name(s): Wyat, Thomas
Subject(s): Fortune; Love; Youth


Since love is such that, as ye wot,
Cannot always be wisely used,
I say therefore then blame me not,
Though I therein have been abused;
For as with cause I am accused,
Guilty I grant, such was my lot,
And though it cannot be excused
Yet let such folly be forgot.

For in my years of reckless youth
Methought the power of love so great
That to her laws I bound my truth
And to my will there was no let.
Me list no more so far to fet
Such fruit, lo, as of love ensueth;
The gain was small that was to get,
And of the loss the less the ruth.

And few there is but first or last
A time in love once shall they have;
And glad I am my time is past,
Henceforth my freedom to withsave.
Now in my heart there shall I grave
The grounded grace that now I taste;
Thanked be fortune that me gave
So fair a gift, so sure and fast.

Now such as have me seen ere this,
When youth in me set forth his kind,
And folly framed my thought amiss,
The fault whereof now well I find,
Lo, since that so it is assigned
That unto each a time there is,
Then blame the lot that led my mind
Sometime to live in love's bliss.

But from henceforth I do protest
By press of that that I have passed,
Shall never cease within my breast
The power of love so late outcast;
The knot thereof is knit full fast,
And I thereto so sure professed,
For evermore with me to last
The power wherein I am possessed.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


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