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“
They Flee From Me That Sometime Did Me Seek
David McKee Wright 1869 – 1928
They flee from me that sometime did me seek
With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,
That now are wild and do not remember
That sometime they put themself in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
Busily seeking with a continual change.
Thanked be fortune it hath been otherwise
Twenty times better; but once in special,
In thin array after a pleasant guise,
When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
And she me caught in her arms long and small;
Therewithall sweetly did me kiss
And softly said, 'dear heart, how like you this?'
It was no dream: I lay broad waking.
But all is turned thorough my gentleness
Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
And I have leave to go of her goodness,
And she also, to use newfangleness.
But since that I so kindly am served
I would fain know what she hath deserved.
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Citation
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"They Flee From Me That Sometime Did Me Seek" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2021. Web. 28 Feb. 2021. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/7939/they-flee-from-me-that-sometime-did-me-seek>.