WHEREIN PETRARCH CONFESSES HIS FOLLY

O ye that hear in vagrant rhymes the sighing
On which the headlong heart of youth went feeding,
When, still unseasoned, still at folly's leading
I turned from fears in sudden terror flying
To hopes whose glitter proved no less a lying —
As variously related for your reading —
If ever from Love's arrow ye fled bleeding,
Pity, and pardon me this anguished crying!
But well I know how I must walk derided,
A jest, a syllable in tavern chatter;
By self-reproach my self-deceit goes chided,

PSALM XLIII .

Judica me, Deus.

1.

Judg of all, judg me,
And protector bee
Of my cause, oppressed
Of most cruel sprites;
Saue me from bad wights
In false colours dressed.

2.

For, my God, Thy sight
Giveth me my might;
Why then hast Thou left me?
Why walk I in woes,
While prevayling foes

PSAIM XLII .

Qucmadmodum.

1.

As the chased hart, which brayeth
Seeking some refreshing brook,
So my soul in panting playeth,
Thirsting on my God to look.
My soul thirsts indeed in mee
After ever living Thee;
Ah, when comes my blessed being,
Of Thy face to haue a seing

2.

Daye and night my teares out flowing
Haue been my ill-feeding food,

PSAIM XLI .

Beatus qui intelligit.

1.

He blessed is who with wise temper can
Judg of th' afflicted man,
For God shall him deliver in the time
When most his troubles clime.
The Lord will keep his life yet safe and sound
With blessings of the ground;
And will not him unto the will expose
Of them that be his foes.

2.

When bedd, from rest, becomes his seat of woe,

PLALM XI .

Expectans expectavi.

1.

While long I did, with patient constancy,
The pleasure of my God attend,
He did Himself to me-ward bend,
And harkned how and why that I did cry.
And me from pitt bemir'd,
From dungeon He retir'd,
Where I in horrors lay;

PSALM XXXIX .

Dixi, custodiam.

1.

Thus did I think, I well will mark my way,
Least by my tongue I hap to stray;
I muzzle will my mouth while in the sight
I do abide of wicked wight.
And so I nothing said, I muet stood,
I silence kept, ev'n in the good.

2.

But still the more that I did hold my peace,
The more my sorrow did encrease;
The more me thought my heart was hott in me,

PSALM XXXVII .

Noli aemulari.

1.

Frete not thy self if thou do see
That wicked men do seeme to flourish;
Nor envy in thy bosome nourish,
Though ill deeds well-succeeding be.

2.

They soone shall be cutt down like grasse,
And wither like green herb or flower;
Do well, and trust on heavnly power,
Thou shalt haue both good food and place.

3.

Delight in God, and He shall breed

PSALM XXXVI .

Dixit injustus.

1.

Me thinks amid my heart I heare
What guilty wickedness doth say,
Which wicked folks do hold so deare:
Ev'n thus it self it doth display,
No feare of God doth once appeare
Before his eyes that doth so stray.

2.

For those same eyes his flatterers be,
Till his known evill do hatred get:
His words deceit, iniquity

PSALM XXXV .

Judica, Domine.

1.

Speake Thou for me against wrong-speaking foes,
Thy force, O Lord, against their force oppose;
Take vp Thy shield, and for my succour stand,
Yea, take. Thy lance, and stop the way of those
That seek my bane; O, make me understand
In sprite that I shall haue Thy helping hand.

2.

Confound those folks, thrust them in shamefull hole
That hunt so poore a prey as is my soule;

1.

I, ev'n I, will always
Giue hearty thanks to Him on high,
And in my mouth continualy
Inhabit shall His prayse:
My soul shall glory still
In that deare Lord with true delight;
That, hearing it, the hearts contrite
May learn their joyes to fill.

2.

Come, then, and join with me
Some worth to speake of His due praise;
Striue we, that in some thankfull phrase