dots-menu
×

Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  » 

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

A calculation upon the birth of an Honourable Lady’s Daughter

Henry Constable (1562–1613)

Born in the year 1588, and on a Friday

FAIR by inheritance! whom born we see

Both in the Wondrous Year, and on the day

Wherein the fairest Planet beareth sway;

The heavens to thee, this fortune doth decree!

Thou of a world of hearts in time shall be

A Monarch great; and with one beauty’s ray

So many hosts of hearts, thy face shall slay;

As all the rest, for love, shall yield to thee!

But even as ALEXANDER, when he knew

His father’s conquests, wept; lest he should leave

No kingdom unto him for to subdue:

So shall thy mother, thee of praise bereave!

So many hearts already she hath slain;

As few behind to conquer shall remain.

F I N I S.