The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 2 (of 2)

Name: The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 2 (of 2)
Author: Skelton, John

Skelton, John

English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700

Of your inward charyte;
          Amen,
  Of your inward charyte.
    It were great rewth,
  For wrytynge of trewth
  Any man shulde be                                                    840
  In perplexyte
  Of dyspleasure;
  For I make you sure,
  Where trouth is abhorde,
  It is a playne recorde
  That there wantys grace;
  In whose place
  Dothe occupy,
  Full vngracyously,
  Fals flatery,                                                        850
  Fals trechery,[210]
  Fals brybery,
  Subtyle Sym Sly,
  With madde foly;
  For who can best lye,
  He is best set by.
  Than farewell to thé,
  Welthfull felycite!
  For prosperyte
  Away than wyll fle.                                                  860
  Than must we agre
  With pouerte;
  For mysery,
  With penury,
  Myserably
  And wretchydly
  Hath made askrye
  And outcry,
  Folowynge the chase
  To dryue away grace.                                                 870
  Yet sayst thou percase,
  We can lacke no grace,
  For my lordes grace,
  And my ladies grace,
  With trey duse ase,
  And ase in the face,
  Some haute and some base,
  Some daunce the trace
  Euer in one case:
  Marke me that chase                                                  880
  In the tennys play,
  For synke quater trey
  Is a tall man:
  He rod, but we ran,
  Hay, the gye and the gan!
  The gray gose is no swan;
  The waters wax wan,
  And beggers they ban,
  And they cursed Datan,
  _De tribu Dan_,                                                      890
  That this warke[211] began,
  _Palam et clam_,
  With Balak and Balam,
  The golden ram
  Of Flemmyng dam,
  Sem, Iapheth, or Cam.
    But howe comme to pas,
  Your cupbord that was
  Is tourned to glasse,
  From syluer to brasse,                                               900
  From golde to pewter,
  Or els to a newter,
  To copper, to tyn,
  To lede, or alcumyn?
  A goldsmyth your mayre;
  But the chefe of your fayre
  Myght stande nowe by potters,
  And suche as sell trotters:
  Pytchars,[212] potshordis,
  This shrewdly accordis                                               910
  To be a cupborde[213] for lordys.
    My lorde now and syr knyght,
  Good euyn and good nyght!
  For now, syr Trestram,
  Ye must weare bukram,
  Or canues of Cane,
  For sylkes are wane.
  Our royals that shone,
  Our nobles are gone
  Amonge the Burgonyons,                                               920
  And Spanyardes onyons,
  And the Flanderkyns.
  Gyll swetis, and Cate spynnys,
  They are happy that wynnys;
  But Englande may well say,
  Fye on this wynnyng all way!
  Now nothynge but pay, pay,
  With, laughe and lay downe,
  Borowgh, cyte, and towne.
    Good Sprynge of Lanam                                              930
  Must counte what became
  Of his clothe makynge:
  He is at suche takynge,
  Though his purse wax dull,
  He must tax for his wull
  By nature of a newe writ;
  My lordys grace nameth it
  A _quia non satisfacit_:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 2 (of 2)

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