| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Fidessa | | Sonnet XLI. The prison I am in is thy fair face! | | Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602) |
| | | THE PRISON I am in is thy fair face! | |
| Wherein my liberty enchainèd lies; | |
| My thoughts, the bolts that hold me in the place; | |
| My food, the pleasing looks of thy fair eyes! | |
| Deep is the prison where I lie enclosed, | 5 |
| Strong are the bolts that in this cell contain me. | |
| Sharp is the food necessity imposed, | |
| When hunger makes me feed on that which pains me. | |
| Yet do I love, embrace, and follow fast, | |
| That holds, that keeps, that discontents me most: | 10 |
| And list not break, unlock, or seek to waste | |
| The place, the bolts, the food (though I be lost!), | |
| Better in prison ever to remain; | |
| Than, being out, to suffer greater pain. | | | | |
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