Thomas Wyatt was born at Allington Castle near Maidstone, in Kent,
in 1503. He attended St. John's College, University of Cambridge. There
are thirteen original sources for Wyatt's poetry. One of the largest,
Tottel's Miscellany, was published in 1557, fifteen years after
Wyatt's death. It contains 97 poems attributed to Wyatt. This brief
poem is edited from the first 1557 edition of Tottel.
Nature, that gave the bee so feat a grace
To find honey of so wondrous fashion,
Hath taught the spider out of the same place
To fetch poison by strange alteration.
Though this be strange, it is a stranger case 5
With one kiss by secret operation,
Both these at once in those your lips to find,
In change whereof I leave my heart behind.
1. feat] elegant, neatly clever. grace] ability, talent.
4. fetch] take, extract.
8. change] exchange.
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