| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Diana | The Fifth Decade
Sonnet III. If ever Sorrow spoke from soul that loves | | Henry Constable (1562–1613) |
| | | IF ever Sorrow spoke from soul that loves, | |
| As speaks a spirit in a man possest; | |
| In me, her spirit speaks. My soul it moves, | |
| Whose sigh-swoll’n words breed whirlwinds in my breast: | |
| Or like the echo of a passing bell, | 5 |
| Which sounding on the water, seems to howl; | |
| So rings my heart a fearful heavy knell, | |
| And keeps all night in consort with the owl. | |
| My cheeks with a thin ice of tears are clad, | |
| Mine eyes like morning stars are bleared and red: | 10 |
| What resteth then, but I be raging mad, | |
| To see that She, my cares’ chief conduit-head, | |
| When all streams else help quench my burning heart, | |
| Shuts up her springs; and will no grace impart. | | | | |
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