| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Diella | | Sonnet XXXVI. Long did I wish, before I could attain | | Richard Linche (fl. 1596–1601) |
| | | LONG did I wish, before I could attain | |
| the looked-for sight, I so desired to see; | |
| Too soon, at last I saw what bred my bane, | |
| and ever since hath sore tormented me. | |
| I saw Herself, whom had I never seen, | 5 |
| my wealth of bliss had not been turned to bale. | |
| Greedy regard of Her, my heart’s sole queen, | |
| hath changed my summer’s sun to winter’s hail. | |
| How oft have I, since that first fatal hour, | |
| beheld her all-fair shape with begging eye, | 10 |
| Till She, unkind, hath killed me with a lower, | |
| and bade my humble-suing looks look by. | |
| O pity me, fair Love! and highest fame | |
| Shall blazèd be, in honour of thy name. | | | | |
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