Response to “When I was Young and Fair”
When you were young and fair
The bloodied sword cut away
Innocence at the age of two,
A fear was there to stay.
You scorned them, the ghost
Of a dead rose, bloodied
By a certain man’s thorns.
A brave victorious boy
Found you charming,
Hands joined in childhood,
But on your ground you stood.
You were so coy
The wound of your heart said
“Importune me no more.”
However, old age brings unrest,
You felt change within your breast.
Then it was too late to repent
The ghostly fears your mother met.
WHEN I WAS YOUNG AND FAIR
by Elizabeth I
When I was fair and young, and favor graced me,
Of many was I sought unto their mistress for to be.
But I did scorn them all, and said to them therefore,
“Go, go, go, seek some otherwhere; importune me no more.”
But there fair Venus’ son, that brave, victorious boy
Said, “What, thou scornful dame, sith that thou art so coy.
I will so wound they heart, that thou shalt learn therefore:
Go, go, go seek some otherwhere; importune me no more.”
But then straightaway a change within my breast:
The day unquiet was, the night I could not rest,
For I did sore repent that I had said before,
“Go, go, go, seek some otherwhere; importune me no more.”
