| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Diana | The Fifth Decade
Sonnet VII. But being Care, thou flyest me as Ill Fortune! | | Henry Constable (1562–1613) |
| | | BUT being CARE, thou flyest me as ILL FORTUNE! | |
| CARE the consuming canker of the mind! | |
| The discord that disorders sweet hearts’ tune! | |
| Th’abortive bastard of a coward mind! | |
| The lightfoot lackey that runs post by death, | 5 |
| Bearing the letters which contain our end! | |
| The busy advocate that sells his breath, | |
| Denouncing worst to him, is most his friend! | |
| O Dear! this care no interest holds in me: | |
| But holy CARE, the Guardiant of thy fair, | 10 |
| Thine honour’s Champion, and thy virtue’s Fee; | |
| The zeal which thee from barbarous times shall bear. | |
| This CARE am I. This care my life hath taken. | |
| Dear to my soul! then, leave me not forsaken! | | | | |
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