Classic Poem

Fain would I have a pretty thing
To give unto my lady:
I name no thing, nor I mean no thing,
But as pretty a thing as may be.

Twenty journeys would I make,
And twenty ways would hie me,
To make adventure for her sake
To set some matter by me.
But I would fain have a pretty thing. . .

Some do long for pretty knacks,
And some for strange devices:
God send me that my lady lacks,
I care not what the price is.
Thus fain would I have a pretty thing. . .

Some go here and some go there
Where gazes be not geason;
And I go gaping everywhere,
But still come out of season.
Yet fain would I have a pretty thing. . .

I walk the town and tread the street,
In every corner seeking:
The pretty thing I cannot meet
That's for a lady's liking.
Fain would I have a pretty thing. . .

The mercers pull me going by,
The silk-wives say, "What lack ye?"
"The thing you have not," then say I,
"Ye foolish folk, go pack ye!"
But fain would I have a pretty thing. . .

It is not all the silk in Cheape,
Nor all the golden treasure,
Nor twenty bushels on a heap,
Can do my lady pleasure.
But fain would I have a pretty thing. . .

The gravers of the golden shows
With jewels do beset me,
The shemsters in the shops, that sews,
They do nothing but let me.
But fain would I have a pretty thing. . .

But were it in the wit of man
By any means to make it,
I could for money buy it than,
And say, "Fair lady, take it!"
Thus fain would I have a pretty thing. . .

O lady, what a luck is this--
That my good willing misseth
To find what pretty thing it is
That my good lady wisheth!
Thus fain would I have had this pretty thing
To give unto my lady:
I said no harm, nor I meant no harm,
But as pretty a thing as may be.