| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Laura—Part III. | | X. Phœbus had once a bird, his chief delight | | Robert Tofte (1561–1620) |
| | | PHŒBUS had once a bird, his chief delight, | |
| Which, only ’cause he had an evil tongue, | |
| He made him black; who was before most white. | |
| So if all those who, Lovers true have stung | |
| With spiteful speech, and have their loves betrayed; | 5 |
| Or to their Ladies false be and untrue, | |
| Setting at nought the promise they have made; | |
| LOVE would but change into this coal-black hue: | |
| Thousands abroad, like sea-coal crows should show; | |
| Who, now unknown, for snowy swans do go. | 10 | | | |
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