| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Laura—Part III. | | XV. A gentle tame deer am I, called a Hart | | Robert Tofte (1561–1620) |
| | | A GENTLE tame deer am I, called a Hart: | |
| The cruel huntress fierce my Mistress is. | |
| With crossbow bent, she comes to me in Park; | |
| Paled in with pleasant thoughts of wanton wish. | |
| She shoots, and hits me; takes me for her prey: | 5 |
| And (having shot, hit, taken) flies her way. | |
| Back she retires from me, with pleasant smile; | |
| Unloosing me, and heals my wound and pain: | |
| When, as afresh incensed (alack the while!) | |
| ’Gainst me, desirous me to plague again, | 10 |
| She turns towards me, o’ertakes me, strikes me sore: | |
| And, binding up my wounds, makes deadly more. | | | | |
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