I Abide and Abide and Better Abide

I Abide and Abide and Better Abide

Original Text
British Library Library Additional MS 17492 (Devonshire MS), fol. 77v; cf. Collected Poems, ed. Kenneth Muir and Patricia Thomson (Liverpool University Press, 1969): 231.
1I abide and abide and better abide,
2And after the old proverb, the happy day;
3And ever my lady to me doth say,
4"Let me alone and I will provide."
5I abide and abide and tarry the tide,
6And with abiding speed well ye may.
7Thus do I abide I wot alway,
8Nother obtaining nor yet denied.
9Ay me! this long abiding
10Seemeth to me, as who sayeth,
11A prolonging of a dying death,
12Or a refusing of a desir'd thing.
13Much were it better for to be plain
14Than to say "abide" and yet shall not obtain.

Notes

1] First printed by Nott. Back to Line
2] old proverb. This proverb is found in the Envoy to the "Plaint," once attributed to Chaucer: "Better is it to suffer and fortune abide/Than hastily to clime and sodenly to slyde." Back to Line
5] tarry the tide: bide my time, wait (proverbial). Back to Line
6] Wyatt ironically observes that the lady ("ye") does fine with her "abiding speed" ("continuing success"). Back to Line
7] I wot alway: forever, for all I know. Back to Line
8] Nother: neither. Back to Line
10] as who sayeth: what one might call, as they say. Back to Line
13] to be plain: say her mind, not equivocate, i.e., reject him. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1815
RPO poem Editors
F. D. Hoeniger; Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RP 1963: I.4; RPO 1994.
Rhyme
abbaabbacddcee
Form
sonnet