Complete Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

by Henry Howard

  Then think I thus: ‘Sith such repair,

  So long time war of valiant men, 20

  Was all to win a lady fair,

  Shall I not learn to suffer then?

  And think my life well spent to be,

  Serving a worthier wight than she?’

  Therefore I never will repent, 25

  But pains contented still endure;

  For like as when, rough winter spent,

  The pleasant spring straight draweth in ure;

  So after raging storms of care,

  Joyful at length may be my fare. 30

  List of poems in chronological order

  List of poems in alphabetical order

  Complaint of the Absence of her Lover being upon the Sea

  O HAPPY dames that may embrace

  The fruit of your delight;

  Help to bewail the woful case,

  And eke the heavy plight,

  Of me, that wonted to rejoice 5

  The fortune of my pleasant choice:

  Good ladies! help to fill my mourning voice.

  In ship freight with remembrance

  Of thoughts and pleasures past,

  He sails that hath in governance 10

  My life while it will last;

  With scalding sighs, for lack of gale,

  Furthering his hope, that is his sail,

  Toward me, the sweet port of his avail.

  Alas! how oft in dreams I see 15

  Those eyes that were my food;

  Which sometime so delighted me,

  That yet they do me good:

  Wherewith I wake with his return,

  Whose absent flame did make me burn: 20

  But when I find the lack, Lord! how I mourn.

  When other lovers in arms across,

  Rejoice their chief delight;

  Drowned in tears, to mourn my loss,

  I stand the bitter night 25

  In my window, where I may see

  Before the winds how the clouds flee:

  Lo! what mariner love hath made of me.

  And in green waves when the salt flood

  Doth rise by rage of wind; 30

  A thousand fancies in that mood

  Assail my restless mind.

  Alas! now drencheth my sweet foe,

  That with the spoil of my heart did go,

  And left me; but, alas! why did he so? 35

  And when the seas wax calm again,

  To chase from me annoy,

  My doubtful hope doth cause me plain;

  So dread cuts off my joy.

  Thus is my wealth mingled with woe: 40

  And of each thought a doubt doth grow;

  Now he comes! will he come? alas! no, no!

  List of poems in chronological order

  List of poems in alphabetical order

  Complaint of a dying Lover refused upon his Lady’s unjust mistaking of his Writing

  IN winter’s just return, when Boreas gan his reign,

  And every tree unclothed fast, as nature taught them plain:

  In misty morning dark, as sheep are then in hold,

  I hied me fast, it sat me on, my sheep for to unfold.

  And as it is a thing that lovers have by fits, 5

  Under a palm I heard one cry as he had lost his wits.

  Whose voice did ring so shrill in uttering of his plaint,

  That I amazed was to hear how love could him attaint.

  ‘Ah! wretched man,’ quoth he; ‘come, death, and rid this woe;

  A just reward, a happy end, if it may chance thee so. 10

  Thy pleasures past have wrought thy woe without redress;

  If thou hadst never felt no joy, thy smart had been the less.’

  And rechless of his life, he gan both sigh and groan:

  A rueful thing me thought it was, to hear him make such moan.

  ‘Thou cursed pen,’ said he, ‘woe-worth the bird thee bare; 15

  The man, the knife, and all that made thee, woe be to their share:

  Woe-worth the time and place where I so could indite;

  And woe be it yet once again, the pen that so can write.

  Unhappy hand! it had been happy time for me,

  If when to write thou learned first, unjointed hadst thou be.’ 20

  Thus cursed he himself, and every other wight,

  Save her alone whom love him bound to serve both day and night.

  Which when I heard, and saw how he himself fordid;

  Against the ground with bloody strokes, himself e’en there to rid;

  Had been my heart of flint, it must have melted tho’; 25

  For in my life I never saw a man so full of woe.

  With tears for his redress I rashly to him ran,

  And in my arms I caught him fast, and thus I spake him than:

  ‘What woful wight art thou, that in such heavy case

  Torments thyself with such despite, here in this desart place?’ 30

  Wherewith as all aghast, fulfill’d with ire and dread,

  He cast on me a staring look, with colour pale and dead:

  ‘Nay what art thou,’ quoth he, ‘that in this heavy plight

  Dost find me here, most woful wretch, that life hath in despite?’

  ‘I am,’ quoth I, ‘but poor, and simple in degree; 35

  A shepherd’s charge I have in hand, unworthy though I be.’

  With that he gave a sigh, as though the sky should fall,

  And loud, alas! he shrieked oft, and, ‘Shepherd,’ ‘gan he call,

  ‘Come, hie thee fast at once, and print it in thy heart,

  So thou shalt know, and I shall tell thee, guiltless how I smart.’ 40

  His back against the tree sore feebled all with faint,

  With weary sprite he stretcht him up, and thus he told his plaint:

  ‘Once in my heart,’ quoth he, ‘it chanced me to love

  Such one, in whom hath Nature wrought, her cunning for to prove.

  And sure I cannot say, but many years were spent, 45

  With such good will so recompens’d, as both we were content.

  Whereto then I me bound, and she likewise also,

  The sun should run his course awry, ere we this faith forego.

  Who joyed then but I? who had this worldès bliss?

  Who might compare a life to mine, that never thought on this? 50

  But dwelling in this truth, amid my greatest joy,

  Is me befallen a greater loss than Priam had of Troy

  She is reversed clean, and beareth me in hand,

  That my deserts have given cause to break this faithful band:

  And for my just excuse availeth no defence. 55

  Now knowest thou all; I can no more; but, Shepherd, hie thee hence,

  And give him leave to die, that may no longer live:

  Whose record, lo! I claim to have, my death I do forgive.

  And eke when I am gone, be bold to speak it plain,

  Thou hast seen die the truest man that ever love did pain.’ 60

  Wherewith he turned him round, and gasping oft for breath,

  Into his arms a tree he raught, and said: ‘Welcome my death!

  Welcome a thousand fold, now dearer unto me

  Than should, without her love to live, an emperor to be.’

  Thus in this woful state he yielded up the ghost; 65

  And little knoweth his lady, what a lover she hath lost.

  Whose death when I beheld, no marvel was it, right

  For pity though my heart did bleed, to see so piteous sight.

  My blood from heat to cold oft changed wonders sore;

  A thousand troubles there I found I never knew before; 70

  ‘Tween dread and dolour so my sprites were brought in fear,

  That long it was ere I could call to mind what I did there.

  But as each thing hath end, so had these pains of mine:

  The furies past, and I my wits restor’d by length of time.


  Then as I could devise, to seek I thought it best 75

  Where I might find some worthy place for such a corse to rest.

  And in my mind it came, from thence not far away,

  Where Cressid’s love, king Priam’s son, the worthy Troilus lay.

  By him I made his tomb, in token he was true,

  And as to him belonged well, I covered it with blue. 80

  Whose soul by angels’ power departed not so soon,

  But to the heavens, lo! it fled, for to receive his doom.

  List of poems in chronological order

  List of poems in alphabetical order

  Complaint of the Absence of her Lover, being upon the Sea

  GOOD ladies! ye that have your pleasure in exile,

  Step in your foot, come, take a place, and mourn with me awhile:

  And such as by their lords do set but little price,

  Let them sit still, it skills them not what chance come on the dice.

  But ye whom Love hath bound, by order of desire, 5

  To love your Lords, whose good deserts none other would require;

  Come ye yet once again, and set your foot by mine,

  Whose woful plight, and sorrows great, no tongue may well define.

  My love and lord, alas! in whom consists my wealth,

  Hath fortune sent to pass the seas, in hazard of his health. 10

  Whom I was wont t’embrace with well contented mind,

  Is now amid the foaming floods at pleasure of the wind.

  Where God will him preserve, and soon him home me send;

  Without which hope my life, alas! were shortly at an end.

  Whose absence yet, although my hope doth tell me plain, 15

  With short return he comes anon, yet ceaseth not my pain.

  The fearful dreams I have ofttimes do grieve me so,

  That when I wake, I lie in doubt, where they be true or no.

  Sometime the roaring seas, me seems, do grow so high,

  That my dear Lord, ay me! alas! methinks I see him die. 20

  And other time the same, doth tell me he is come,

  And playing, where I shall him find, with his fair little son.

  So forth I go apace to see that liefsome sight,

  And with a kiss, methinks I say, ‘Welcome, my Lord, my knight;

  Welcome, my sweet; alas! the stay of my welfare; 25

  Thy presence bringeth forth a truce betwixt me and my care.’

  Then lively doth he look, and saluteth me again,

  And saith, ‘My dear, how is it now that you have all this pain?’

  Wherewith the heavy cares, that heap’d are in my breast,

  Break forth and me dischargen clean, of all my huge unrest. 30

  But when I me awake, and find it but a dream,

  The anguish of my former woe beginneth more extreme;

  And me tormenteth so that unneath may I find

  Some hidden place, wherein to slake the gnawing of my mind.

  Thus every way you see, with absence how I burn; 35

  And for my wound no cure I find, but hope of good return:

  Save when I think, by sour how sweet is felt the more,

  It doth abate some of my pains, that I abode before.

  And then unto myself I say: ‘When we shall meet,

  But little while shall seem this pain; the joy shall be so sweet.’ 40

  Ye winds, I you conjure, in chiefest of your rage,

  That ye my Lord me safely send, my sorrows to assuage.

  And that I may not long abide in this excess,

  Do your good will to cure a wight, that liveth in distress.

  List of poems in chronological order

  List of poems in alphabetical order

  A Praise of his Love, wherein he reproveth them that compare their Ladies with his

  GIVE place, ye lovers, here before

  That spent your boasts and brags in vain;

  My Lady’s beauty passeth more

  The best of yours, I dare well sayen,

  Than doth the sun the candle light, 5

  Or brightest day the darkest night.

  And thereto hath a troth as just

  As had Penelope the fair;

  For what she saith, ye may it trust,

  As it by writing sealed were: 10

  And virtues hath she many mo’

  Than I with pen have skill to show.

  I could rehearse, if that I would,

  The whole effect of Nature’s plaint,

  When she had lost the perfect mould, 15

  The like to whom she could not paint:

  With wringing hands, how she did cry.

  And what she said, I know it, aye.

  I know she swore with raging mind,

  Her kingdom only set apart, 20

  There was no loss by law of kind

  That could have gone so near her heart

  And this was chiefly all her pain;

  ‘She could not make the like again.’

  Sith Nature thus gave her the praise, 25

  To be the chiefest work she wrought;

  In faith, methink! some better ways

  On your behalf might well be sought

  Than to compare, as ye have done,

  To match the candle with the sun. 30

  List of poems in chronological order

  List of poems in alphabetical order

  To his Mistress

  IF he that erst the form so lively drew

  Of Venus’ face, triumph’d in painter’s art;

  Thy Father then what glory did ensue,

  By whose pencil a Goddess made thou art.

  Touched with flame that figure made some rue, 5

  And with her love surprised many a heart.

  There lack’d yet that should cure their hot desire:

  Thou canst inflame and quench the kindled fire.

  List of poems in chronological order

  List of poems in alphabetical order

  To the Lady that scorned her Lover

  ALTHOUGH I had a check,

  To give the mate is hard;

  For I have found a neck,

  To keep my men in guard.

  And you that hardy are, 5

  To give so great assay

  Unto a man of war,

  To drive his men away;

  I rede you take good heed,

  And mark this foolish verse; 10

  For I will so provide,

  That I will have your ferse.

  And when your ferse is had,

  And all your war is done;

  Then shall yourself be glad 15

  To end that you begun.

  For if by chance I win

  Your person in the field;

  Too late then come you in

  Yourself to me to yield. 20

  For I will use my power,

  As captain full of might;

  And such I will devour,

  As use to shew me spite.

  And for because you gave 25

  Me check in such degree;

  This vantage, lo! I have,

  Now check, and guard to thee.

  Defend it if thou may;

  Stand stiff in thine estate: 30

  For sure I will assay,

  If I can give thee mate.

  List of poems in chronological order

  List of poems in alphabetical order

  A Warning to the Lover, how he is abused by his Love

  TOO dearly had I bought my green and youthful years,

  If in mine age I could not find when craft for love appears.

  And seldom though I come in court among the rest,

  Yet can I judge in colours dim, as deep as can the best.

  Where grief torments the man that suff’reth secret smart, 5

  To break it forth unto some friend, it easeth well the heart.

  So stands it now with me, for, my beloved friend,

  This case is thine, for whom I feel such torment of
my mind.

  And for thy sake I burn so in my secret breast,

  That till thou know my whole disease, my heart can have no rest, 10

  I see how thine abuse hath wrested so thy wits,

  That all it yields to thy desire, and follows thee by fits.

  Where thou hast loved so long, with heart, and all thy power,

  I see thee fed with feigned words, thy freedom to devour:

  I know (though she say nay, and would it well withstand) 15

  When in her grace thou held thee most, she bare thee but in hand.

  I see her pleasant chere in chiefest of thy suit;

  When thou art gone, I see him come that gathers up the fruit.

  And eke in thy respect, I see the base degree

  Of him to whom she gave the heart, that promised was to thee. 20

  I see, (what would you more,) stood never man so sure

  On woman’s word, but wisdom would mistrust it to endure.

  List of poems in chronological order

  List of poems in alphabetical order

  The forsaken Lover describeth and forsaketh Love

  O LOATHSOME place! where I

  Have seen, and heard my dear;

  When in my heart her eye

  Hath made her thought appear,

  By glimpsing with such grace, — 5

  As fortune it ne would

  That lasten any space,

  Between us longer should.

  As fortune did advance

  To further my desire; 10

  Even so hath fortune’s chance

  Thrown all amidst the mire.

  And that I have deserved,

  With true and faithful heart,

  Is to his hands reserved, 15

  That never felt the smart.

  But happy is that man

  That scaped hath the grief,

  That love well teach him can,

  By wanting his relief. 20

  A scourge to quiet minds

  It is, who taketh heed;

  A common plage that hinds;

  A travail without meed.

  This gift it hath also: 25