Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
Ye Old Mule
1Ye old mule that think yourself so fair,
2Leave off with craft your beauty to repair,
3For it is true, without any fable,
4No man setteth more by riding in your saddle.
5Too much travail so do your train appair.
6 Ye old mule
7With false savour though you deceive th'air,
8Whoso taste you shall well perceive your lair
9Savoureth somewhat of a Kappurs stable.
10 Ye old mule
11Ye must now serve to market and to fair,
12All for the burden, for panniers a pair.
13For since gray hairs been powdered in your sable,
14The thing ye seek for, you must yourself enable
15To purchase it by payment and by prayer,
16 Ye old mule.
Notes
5] travail: hard labour.
train: those accompanying her, entourage?
appair: damage.
7] false savour: perfume.
9] Kappurs: colt's.
12] panniers: baskets.
14] The thing ye seek for: sex.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: British Library Egerton MS. 2711, fol. 25; cf. Richard Harrier, Canon (1975): 130.
Publication date note: modern
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1997.
Recent editing: 2:2002/5/1
Rhyme: aabbac aabc aabba
Other poems by Sir Thomas Wyatt
