Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Laura—Part I

XXXV. Far better had it been, I had been dead

Robert Tofte (1561–1620)

FAR better had it been, I had been dead,

And laid full low in latest home, my grave;

Than with that drink myself for to have fed,

Which LAURA mine in crystal glass me gave.

The liquor pleased me, I must needs confess:

Yet to my heart, ’twas poison ne’ertheless.

So that I had contrary quite effect

To my desire; which I so much did wish.

Love was in fault, who Reason doth reject.

And see my cruel luck, what happed in this!

The wine was sweet; yet did his nature turn:

It cooled my mouth, but heart within did burn.