| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Idea | | Sonnet 20. An evil Spirit (your Beauty) haunts me still | | Michael Drayton (1563–1631) |
| | [First printed in 1599 (No. 22), and in all later editions.] |
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AN EVIL Spirit (your Beauty) haunts me still, | |
| Wherewith, alas, I have been long possesst; | |
| Which ceaseth not to attempt me to each ill, | |
| Nor give me once, but one poor minute’s rest. | |
| In me it speaks, whether I sleep or wake: | 5 |
| And when by means to drive it out I try, | |
| With greater torments then it me doth take, | |
| And tortures me in most extremity. | |
| Before my face, it lays down my despairs, | |
| And hastes me on unto a sudden death: | 10 |
| Now tempting me, to drown myself in tears; | |
| And then in sighing to give up my breath. | |
| Thus am I still provoked to every evil, | |
| By this good-wicked Spirit, sweet Angel-Devil. | | | |
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