| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Licia | | Sonnet XXXVIII. Fair matchless Nymph, respect but what I crave! | | Giles Fletcher (1586?–1623) |
| | | FAIR matchless Nymph, respect but what I crave! | |
| My thoughts are true, and honour is my love. | |
| I fainting die, whom yet a smile might save. | |
| You gave the wound, and can the hurt remove. | |
| Those eyes, like stars that twinkle in the night; | 5 |
| And cheeks, like rubies pale in lilies dyed; | |
| Those ebon [ivory] hands that darting have such might: | |
| That in my soul, my love and life divide. | |
| Accept the Passions of a man possesst! | |
| Let love be loved, and grant me leave to live! | 10 |
| Disperse those clouds that darkened have my rest; | |
| And let your heaven, a sunlike smile but give! | |
| Then shall I praise that heaven for such a sun; | |
| That saved my life, when as my grief begun. | | | | |
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