| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Amoretti and Epithalamion | | Sonnet LXXIII. Being myself captivéd here in care | | Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599) |
| | | BEING myself captivéd here in care, | |
| My heart, whom none with servile bands can tie, | |
| But the fair tresses of your golden hair, | |
| Breaking his prison, forth to you doth fly. | |
| Like as a bird, that in one’s hand doth spy | 5 |
| Desired food, to it doth make his flight: | |
| Even so my heart, that wont on your fair eye | |
| To feed his fill, flies back unto your sight. | |
| Do you him take, and in your bosom bright | |
| Gently encage, that he may be your thrall: | 10 |
| Perhaps he there may learn, with rare delight, | |
| To sing your name and praises over all: | |
| That it hereafter may you not repent, | |
| Him lodging in your bosom to have lent. | | | | |
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