Elizabeth I (1533-1603)
Ah, Silly Pug, wert thou so Sore Afraid
1Ah, silly Pug, wert thou so sore afraid?
2Mourn not, my Wat, nor be thou so dismayed.
3It passeth fickle Fortune's power and skill
4To force my heart to think thee any ill.
5No Fortune base, thou sayest, shall alter thee?
6And may so blind a witch so conquer me?
7No, no, my Pug, though Fortune were not blind,
8Assure thyself she could not rule my mind.
9Fortune, I know, sometimes doth conquer kings,
10And rules and reigns on earth and earthly things,
11But never think Fortune can bear the sway
12If virtue watch, and will her not obey.
13Ne chose I thee by fickle Fortune's rede,
14Ne she shall force me alter with such speed
15But if to try this mistress' jest with thee.
16Pull up thy heart, suppress thy brackish tears,
17Torment thee not, but put away thy fears.
18Dead to all joys and living unto woe,
19Slain quite by her that ne'er gave wise men blow,
20Revive again and live without all dread,
21The less afraid, the better thou shalt speed.
Notes
1] Pug: Elizabeth's nickame for Sir Walter Raleigh. See L. G. Black, "A Lost Poem by Queen Elizabeth I," TLS (May 23, 1968): 535.
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: Inner Temple MS Petyt 538, vol. 10, fol. 3r; Elizabeth I, Collected Works, ed. Leah S. Marcus,
Janel Mueller, and Mary Beth Rose (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2000): 308-09.
First publication date:
1587
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1996-2001
Recent editing: 1:2002/4/18
Composition date:
1587
Form: couplets
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