'Yet once I was'

This is a sixteenth-century poem by Sir Thomas Wyatt; the internet disclaims all knowledge of it, which is a shame, because although it's simple and in a way very conventional, the refrain, 'Yet once I was', has a kind of plangent poignancy.

The text is a slightly modernised form of that edited by R. T. Davies in Medieval English Lyrics (London, 1978), pp.297-8.



Once in your grace I know I was,
Even as well as now is he;
Though Fortune hath so turned my case
That I am down and he full high -
Yet once I was.

Once I was he that did you please
So well that nothing did I doubt,
And though that now ye think it ease
To take him in and throw me out -
Yet once I was.

Once I was he in time past
That as your own ye did retain:
And though ye have me now out-cast,
Showing untruth in you to reign,
Yet once I was.

Once I was he that knit the knot
The which ye swore not to unknit,
And though ye feign it now forgot,
In using your newfangled wit,
Yet once I was.

Once I was he to whom ye said,
'Welcome, my joy, my whole delight!'
And though ye are now well apayd
Of me, your own, to claim ye quit* -
Yet once I was.

Once I was he to whom ye spake,
'Have here my heart! It is thy own.'
And though these words ye now forsake,
Saying thereof my part is none,
Yet once I was.

Once I was he before rehearsed,
And now am he that needs must die.
And though I die, yet, at the last,
In your remembrance let it lie
That once I was.



*'though you are now well content to claim yourself rid of me, your own'