Fain would I have a pretty thing To give unto my lady: I name no thing, nor I mean no thing, But as pretty a thing as may be. Twenty journeys would I make, And twenty ways would hie me, To make adventure for her sake To set some matter by me. But I would fain have a pretty thing. . . Some do long for pretty knacks, And some for strange devices: God send me that my lady lacks, I care not what the price is. Thus fain would I have a pretty thing. . . Some go here and some go there Where gazes be not geason; And I go gaping everywhere, But still come out of season. Yet fain would I have a pretty thing. . . I walk the town and tread the street, In every corner seeking: The pretty thing I cannot meet That's for a lady's liking. Fain would I have a pretty thing. . . The mercers pull me going by, The silk-wives say, "What lack ye?" "The thing you have not," then say I, "Ye foolish folk, go pack ye!" But fain would I have a pretty thing. . . It is not all the silk in Cheape, Nor all the golden treasure, Nor twenty bushels on a heap, Can do my lady pleasure. But fain would I have a pretty thing. . . The gravers of the golden shows With jewels do beset me, The shemsters in the shops, that sews, They do nothing but let me. But fain would I have a pretty thing. . . But were it in the wit of man By any means to make it, I could for money buy it than, And say, "Fair lady, take it!" Thus fain would I have a pretty thing. . . O lady, what a luck is this -- 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FIVE TREES by LOUIS UNTERMEYER THE WANDER-LOVERS by RICHARD HOVEY ENGLAND IN 1819 by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE ROSE TREE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS QUATRAIN: AMONG THE PINES by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE OUTLAW'S SONG by JOANNA BAILLIE |