| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Sonnets after Astrophel, etc. | | Sonnet IX. Reign in my thoughts! fair hand! sweet eye! rare voice! | | Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) |
| | | REIGN in my thoughts! fair hand! sweet eye! rare voice! | |
| Possess me whole, my heart’s Triumvirate! | |
| Yet heavy heart! to make so hard a choice | |
| Of such as spoil thy whole afflicted state. | |
| For whilst they strive which shall be Lord of all, | 5 |
| All my poor life by them is trodden down: | |
| They all erect their triumphs on my fall, | |
| And yield me nought; who gains them there renown. | |
| When back I look, and sigh my freedom past, | |
| And wail the state wherein I present stand, | 10 |
| And see my fortune ever like to last: | |
| Finding me reined with such a cruel hand, | |
| What can I do but yield? and yield I do; | |
| And serve them all, and yet they spoil me too! | | | | |
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