AND IF I DID, WHAT THEN?
by: George Gascoigne (1525?-1577)
- "ND if I did, what then?
- Are you aggriev'd therefore?
- The sea hath fish for every man,
- And what would you have more?"
-
- Thus did my mistress once,
- Amaze my mind with doubt;
- And popp'd a question for the nonce
- To beat my brains about.
-
- Whereto I thus replied:
- "Each fisherman can wish
- That all the seas at every tide
- Were his alone to fish.
-
- "And so did I (in vain)
- But since it may not be,
- Let such fish there as find the gain,
- And leave the loss for me.
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- "And with such luck and loss
- I will content myself,
- Till tides of turning time may toss
- Such fishers on the shelf.
-
- "And when they stick on sands,
- That every man may see,
- Then will I laugh and clap my hands,
- As they do now at me."
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POEMS BY GEORGE GASCOIGNE |
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