Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO A YOUNG LADY DESIRED A VERSE ... SERVANT ONE DAY, MISTRESS ANOTHER, by ELIZABETH TIPPER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A YOUNG LADY DESIRED A VERSE ... SERVANT ONE DAY, MISTRESS ANOTHER, by                    
First Line: More than a king's my word does rule to day
Last Line: When all the world's a riddle, why not I?
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Freedom; Riddles; Liberty


More than a King's my Word dos rule to day,
His Subjects His, my Betters Mine obey;
Quality, Fortune, Beauty, Virtue, Wit,
Do Govern others, but to me Submit:
To morrow from this Dignity I fall,
And am a Servant at each Beck and Call:
Next Day I'me free in Liberty and Power,
And, as before, a Mistress every Hour.

Changeable is my State, and yet not strange,
When Day to Night, and Light to Darkness change:
Yet Fate I cannot blame, but justly own,
She, in this Difference, Evenness hath shown;
For when I'me Mistress, none I can Command,
When Servant, curb'd by no imperious Hand:
This is a Riddle, yet here wonder why,
When all the World's a Riddle, why not I?





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