| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Fidessa | | Sonnet XVII. Sweet stroke! (so might I thrive as I must praise) | | Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602) |
| | | SWEET stroke! (so might I thrive as I must praise) | |
| But sweeter hand that gives so sweet a stroke! | |
| The Lute itself is sweetest when she plays. | |
| But what hear I? A string, through fear, is broke! | |
| The Lute doth shake as if it were afraid. | 5 |
| O, sure, some goddess holds it in her hand! | |
| A Heavenly Power that oft hath me dismayed, | |
| Yet such a power as doth in beauty stand! | |
| Cease Lute! my ceaseless suit will ne’er be heard! | |
| (Ah, too hard-hearted She that will not hear it!) | 10 |
| If I but think on joy, my joy is marred! | |
| My grief is great, yet ever must I bear it! | |
| But love twixt us, will prove a faithful page; | |
| And she will love my sorrows to assuage! | | | | |
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