| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Amoretti and Epithalamion | | Sonnet LI. Do I not see that fairest images | | Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599) |
| | | DO I not see that fairest images | |
| Of hardest marble are of purpose made, | |
| For that they should endure through many ages, | |
| Ne let their famous monuments to fade? | |
| Why then do I, untrained in lover’s trade, | 5 |
| Her hardness blame, which I should more commend? | |
| Sith never aught was excellent assayed | |
| Which was not hard t’ achieve and bring to end. | |
| Ne aught so hard, but he, that would attend, | |
| Mote soften it and to his will allure: | 10 |
| So do I hope her stubborn heart to bend, | |
| And that it then more steadfast will endure: | |
| Only my pains will be the more to get her; | |
| But, having her, my joy will be the greater. | | | | |
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