| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Licia | | Sonnet XXXVI. I speak, fair Licia, what my torments be | | Giles Fletcher (1586?–1623) |
| | | I SPEAK, fair LICIA, what my torments be; | |
| But then my speech too partial do I find: | |
| For hardly words can with those thoughts agree: | |
| Those thoughts that swarm in such a troubled mind. | |
| Then do I vow my tongue shall never speak, | 5 |
| Nor tell my grief that in my heart doth lie: | |
| But, cannon-like, I, then surcharged, do break. | |
| And so my silence worse than speech I try. | |
| Thus speech, or none, they both do breed my care: | |
| I live dismayed and kill my heart with grief. | 10 |
| In all respects my case alike doth fare. | |
| To him that wants; and dares not ask relief. | |
| Then you, fair LICIA, Sovereign of my heart, | |
| Read to yourself my anguish and my smart! | | | | |
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