| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Phillis | | Sonnet XVII. Ah, fleeting weal! ah, sly deluding sleep | | Thomas Lodge (1558–1625) |
| | | AH, fleeting weal! ah, sly deluding sleep, | |
| That in one moment giv’st me joy and pain! | |
| How do my hopes dissolve to tears in vain, | |
| As wont the snows, ’fore angry sun to weep! | |
| Ah, noisome life that hath no weal in keep! | 5 |
| My forward grief hath form and working might; | |
| My pleasures, like the shadows, take their flight; | |
| My path to bliss is tedious, long, and steep. | |
| Twice happy thou Endymion that embracest | |
| The live-long night thy love within thy arms, | 10 |
| Where thou fond dream my longèd weal defacest | |
| Whilst fleeting and uncertain shades thou placest | |
| Before my eyes with false deluding charms! | |
| Ah, instant sweets which do my heart revive, | |
| How should I joy if you were true alive! | 15 | | | |
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