Classic Poem

It had a velvet cap,
And would sit upon my lap,
And seek after small wormes,
And sometime white bread-crumbes;
And many times and oft
Between my breastes soft
It woulde lie and rest;
It was proper and prest.

Sometime he would gasp
When he saw a wasp;
A fly or a gnat,
He would fly at that;
And prettily he would pant
When he saw an ant,
Lord, how he would pry
After the butterfly!
Lord, how he would hop
After the gressop!
And when I said, " Phip, Phip!"
Then he would leap and skip,
And take me by the lip.
Alas, it will me slo
That Philip is gone me fro! . . .

For it would come and go,
And fly so to and fro;
And on me it woulde leap
When I was asleep,
And his feathers shake,
Wherewith he woulde make
Me often for to wake,
And for to take him in
Upon my naked skin.
God wot, we thought no sin;
What though he crept so low?
It was no hurt, I trow
He did nothing, perde,
But sit upon my knee.
Philip, though he were nice,
In him it was no vice.
Philip had leave to go
To peck my little toe;
Philip might be bold
And do what he wold:
Philip would seek and take
All the fleas black
That he could there espy
With his wanton eye.