| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Cœlia | | Sonnet III. Prove her! Ah, no! I did it but to love her! | | William Percy (1575–1648) |
| | | PROVE her! Ah, no! I did it but to love her! | |
| Then shoot amain, dread Liege! I stand unarmed. | |
| Although no hope that anything may move her; | |
| Some ease it is, to be by beauty charmed. | |
| Then quick, my Liege! then quick, and end thy game! | 5 |
| That all the World may see how thou hast plagued us; | |
| Then cruel She shall view, unto her blame, | |
| That “all men be not fickle,” as they’ve termed us, | |
| May be, my words may win contrition! | |
| If not my words, my sobs! if not my sobs, | 10 |
| My tears may move her to compassion! | |
| If tears do fail, my tears, my words, my throbs: | |
| Ay me! ah no! tears, words, throbs, all in vain! | |
| She scorns my dole, and smileth at my pain! | | | | |
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