Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Laura—Part I

XXXVI. Sweet sang thy bird, in ebon cage shut fast

Robert Tofte (1561–1620)

SWEET sang thy bird, in ebon cage shut fast,

And did delight thy dainty ears so much

As thou vouchsafedst to give him meat at last;

And gently did his feathers stroke and touch.

So, Lady, I likewise, in th’ ebony

Of thy bright eyes am prisoner, and do sing

Thy Beauty’s praise; and yet not fed am I

By thee: yet live through thee; a wondrous thing!

Love to my heart thy beauty doth supply

For food; which else, through famine starved, would die.