| Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–42). The Poetical Works. 1880. | | | | Songs and Sonnets | | That Hope unsatisfied is to the Lover’s Heart as a prolonged Death |
| | | I ABIDE, and abide; and better abide, | |
| After the old proverb the happy day. | |
| And ever my Lady to me doth say, | |
| ‘Let me alone, and I will provide.’ | |
| I abide, and abide, and tarry the tide, | 5 |
| And with abiding speed well ye may. | |
| Thus do I abide I wot alway, | |
| N’ other obtaining, nor yet denied. | |
| Aye me! this long abiding | |
| Seemeth to me, as who sayeth | 10 |
| A prolonging of a dying death, | |
| Or a refusing of a desired thing. | |
| Much were it better for to be plain, | |
| Than to say, ‘Abide,’ and yet not obtain. | | | | |
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