The Devonshire Manuscript/Deme as ye list vppon goode cause

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I am as I am and so wil I be→

The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 84v

 f. [84v] 

1    Deme as ye list vppon goode cause
2    I maye and think of this or that
3    but what or whye my self best knowes
4    wherebye I think and fere not
5    but thereunto I maye well think
6    the doubtefull sentence of this clause
7    I wolde yt ware not as I think
8    I wolde I thought yt ware not

9    ffor if I thought yt ware not soo.
10    though yt ware so yt grevid me not
11    vnto my thought yt ware as tho
12    I harkenid tho I here not
13    at that I see . I cannot wynk
14    nor from{_o} mye thought so let it goo.
15    I wolde yt ware not as I think
16    I wolde I thought yt ware not

17    Lo how my thought might make me free
18    of that perch^aunce yt nedith¹ nott
19    perchaunce no doubte the drede I see
20    I shrink at that I bere not
21    but in my harte this wo^rde shall sink
22    vnto the proffe maye better bee
23    I wolde yt ware not & amp; as I think
24    I wolde I thought yt ware not

25    Yf yt be not shewe no cause whye
26    I shulde so think / than care I not
27    for I shall soo myself applie /
28    to bee that I apere not
29    that is as one that{{th}+t+} shall not shrink
30    to be yo^r owne vntill I dye /
31    and if yt be not as I think
32    lyke wyse to think yt is not

fs

Notes & Glosses

     1. In "nedith," h overwrites t.

Commentary

Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt, this poem was entered by H8. Rebholz notes, however, that the poem contains no external evidence for this attribution. The speaker engages in a psychological reflection on the nature of perception and reality. “I am as I am and so wil I be” (85r), located on the next page, expresses a similar theme.