Sonnet XXIII. False Hope prolongs my ever certain grief

Samuel Daniel (1562–1619)

FALSE Hope prolongs my ever certain grief,

Traitor to me, and faithful to my Love.

A thousand times it promised me relief,

Yet never any true effect I prove.

Oft, when I find in her no truth at all,

I banish her, and blame her treachery:

Yet, soon again, I must her back recall,

As one that dies without her company.

Thus often, as I chase my Hope from me,

Straightway, she hastes her unto D E L I A’s eyes:

Fed with some pleasing look, there shall she be;

And so sent back. And thus my fortune lies.

Looks feed my Hope, Hope fosters me in vain;

Hopes are unsure, when certain is my Pain.