The Devonshire Manuscript/Deme as ye list vppon goode cause

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 perchaunce 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 worde shall sink 22    vnto the proffe maye better bee 23    I wolde yt ware not &amp; 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 yor 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.