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Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  »  XXV. O that I were sly Proteus! for to take

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Laura—Part II

XXV. O that I were sly Proteus! for to take

Robert Tofte (1561–1620)

O THAT I were sly PROTEUS! for to take

On me that form which most I like or wish:

Then would I change myself unto the shape

Of that thy little whelp, thy joy and bliss.

Into that little worm thou so dost like;

And dallying, play’st with him both day and night.

Those savoury smacks, those busses, sweet which be,

Which thou to him dost give, should all be mine:

And I would make my heart to leap for glee;

Whilst I did lick that bosom fair of thine.

But since I to despair of this am brought:

My wish shall PROTEUS be; thy dog, my thought!