The Devonshire Manuscript/What menythe thys when I lye alone

f. [12v]

1    What menythe thys when I lye alone 2    I tosse I turne I syghe I g [] e grone 3    My bedd me semys as hard as stone 4    What menys thys

5    I syghe I pleyne contynually 6    the clothes that {{th}+t+} on my bedd do ly 7    always methynk they lye awry 8    What menys thys

9    In slumbers oft for fere I quake 10    ffor hete &amp; cold I burne &amp; shake 11    ffor lake of slepe my hede dothe ake 12    What menys thys

13    A mornyngs then when I do rysse 14    I t [] rn torne vnto my wontyd gysse 15    all day after muse &amp; devysse 16    What menys thys

17    &amp; yff per {p+} chanse by me there passe 18    she vnto whome I Sy sue for gra {gA} ce 19    the cold blood forsakythe my face 20    What menythe thys

f. [13r]

21    But yff I sytte nere her by 22    with {w+t+} lowd voyce my hart dothe cry 23    &amp; yet my mowthe ys dome &amp; dry 24    What menys thys

25    to aske ffor helpe no hart I have 26    my tong dothe fayle What I shuld crave 27    yet inwardly I Rage &amp; Rave 28    What menys thys

29    Thus have I passyd many A yere 30    &amp; many A day tho nowght Apere 31    but most of that {{th}+t+} that most I fere 32    What menys thys

fynys quod {q+d+} Wyatt s

Commentary
Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt, this poem was entered by H2. The poem depicts a lover suffering from unrequited love. Rebholz notes that the first two stanzas may be a deliberate imitation of Ovid's Amores I, ii, 1-4 and the refrain may translate the first words of "Esse quid hoc dicam."

Contrary to H2’s attention to visual presentation, (see "Farewell all my wellfare" (9v) and "May not thys hate from the estarte" (10v)), the two parts of the poem are on facing pages, 12v and 13r, but there are five stanzas on one page and three on the other, thereby creating an imbalance in the poem's presentation.