Vixi Puellis Nuper Idoneus... or
They flee from me
by Thomas Wyatt 1503-1542
They flee from me, that sometime did me seek,
With naked foot stalking in my chamber.
I have seen them, gentle, tame, and meek,
That now are wild, and do not once remember
That sometime they put themselves in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
Busily seeking with a continual change.
Thanked be Fortune it hath been otherwise,
Twenty times better; but once, in special,
In thin array, after a pleasant guise,
When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
And she me caught in her arms long and small,
Therewith all sweetly did me kiss
And softly said, "Dear heart, how like you this?"
It was no dream; I lay broad waking.
But all is turned, thorough my gentleness,
Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
And I have leave to go, of her goodness;
And she also to use new-fangleness.
But since that I so unkindely so am served,
"How like you this?- what hath she now deserved?
Another layer of meaning is added when you know that Sir TW was in love with Ann Boleyn but when Henry VIII took an interest in her, she ignored Sir TW.
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