Ye Old Mule

By Sir Thomas Wyatt 1503–1542 Thomas Wyatt

Ye old mule that think yourself so fair,

Leave off with craft your beauty to repair,

For it is true, without any fable,

No man setteth more by riding in your saddle.

Too much travail so do your train appair.

Ye old mule

With false savour though you deceive th'air,

Whoso taste you shall well perceive your lair

Savoureth somewhat of a Kappurs stable.

Ye old mule

Ye must now serve to market and to fair,

All for the burden, for panniers a pair.

For since gray hairs been powdered in your sable,

The thing ye seek for, you must yourself enable

To purchase it by payment and by prayer,

Ye old mule.

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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