| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Phillis | | Sonnet IV. Long hath my sufferance laboured to enforce | | Thomas Lodge (1558–1625) |
| | | LONG hath my sufferance laboured to enforce | |
| One pearl of pity from her pretty eyes, | |
| Whilst I with restless rivers of remorse, | |
| Have bathed the banks where my fair Phillis lies. | |
| The moaning lines which weeping I have written, | 5 |
| And writing read unto my ruthful sheep, | |
| And reading sent with tears that never fitten, | |
| To my love’s queen, that hath my heart in keep, | |
| Have made my lambkins lay them down and sigh; | |
| But Phillis sits, and reads, and calls them trifles. | 10 |
| Oh heavens, why climb not happy lines so high, | |
| To rent that ruthless heart that all hearts rifles! | |
| None writes with truer faith, or greater love; | |
| Yet out, alas! I have no power to move. | | | | |
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