I Abide and Abide and Better Abide

By Sir Thomas Wyatt 1503–1542 Thomas Wyatt

I abide and abide and better abide,

And 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,

And with abiding speed well ye may.

Thus do I abide I wot alway,

Nother obtaining nor yet denied.

Ay me! this long abiding

Seemeth to me, as who sayeth,

A prolonging of a dying death,

Or a refusing of a desir'd thing.

Much were it better for to be plain

Than to say "abide" and yet shall not obtain.

Biography

Born in Kent, England, Sir Thomas Wyatt was an ambassador to France and Italy for King Henry VIII. Wyatt’s travels abroad exposed him to different forms of poetry, which he adapted for the English language — most notably, the sonnet. Rumored to be Anne Boleyn’s lover, he spent a month in the Tower of London until Boleyn’s execution for adultery. Many consider his poem “Whoso List to Hunt” to be about . . .

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