| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Fidessa | | Sonnet XX. Great is the joy that no tongue can express! | | Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602) |
| | | GREAT is the joy that no tongue can express! | |
| Fair babe, new born, how much dost thou delight me! | |
| But what, is mine so great? Yea, no whit less! | |
| So great, that of all woes it doth acquite me. | |
| It’s fair FIDESSA that this comfort bringeth, | 5 |
| Who sorry for the wrongs, by her procured, | |
| Delightful tunes of love, of true love singeth; | |
| Wherewith her too chaste thoughts were ne’er inured. | |
| “She loves,” she saith, “but with a love not blind.” | |
| Her love is counsel that I should not love; | 10 |
| But upon virtues, fix a stayed mind. | |
| But what! This new-coined love, love doth reprove! | |
| If this be love of which you make such store; | |
| Sweet! love me less, that you may love me more! | | | | |
|
|
