Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
IdeaSonnet 5. Nothing but No! and I!, and I! and No!
Michael Drayton (15631631)[First printed in 1599 (No. 8), and in all later editions. ]
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“How falls it out so strangely?” you reply.
I tell ye, Fair! I’ll not be answered so!
With this affirming “No!”, denying “I!”.
I say “I love!” You slightly answer “I!”.
I say “You love!” You pule me out a “No!”.
I say “I die!” You echo me with “I!”.
“Save me!” I cry; and sigh me out a “No!”.
Must Woe and I have naught but “No!” and “I!”?
No “I!” am I, if I no more can have.
Answer no more! With silence make reply,
And let me take myself what I do crave!
Let “No!” and “I!” with I and you be so,
Then answer “No!” and “I!”, and “I!” and “No!”.