And If I Did, What Then?

BY GEORGE GASCOIGNE

“And 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.

“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.”

Gascoigne: “And If I Did, What Then?”