| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Laura—Part III. | | IX. No sooner Laura mine appears to me | | Robert Tofte (1561–1620) |
| | | NO sooner LAURA mine appears to me; | |
| But that a dainty dye, or blushing red, | |
| In both our faces showeth for to be. | |
| But who, alas, doth mine so overspread? | |
| O’er-fervent LOVE doth draw this shadow pure; | 5 |
| Like cunning’st Painter, long for to endure. | |
| Who painteth hers? Disdain, with pencil hard; | |
| Which turneth all my sweetness into sour. | |
| So that all my designs are quickly marred; | |
| Except LOVE bind Love, by his awful power, | 10 |
| In Faith’s firm bands. Too high th’ exchange will grow, | |
| When love, for hate; and not for like, shall go. | | | | |
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