Sonnet 56. When like an Eaglet, I first found my love

Michael Drayton (1563–1631)

[First printed in 1594 (No. 3), and in all later editions.]

An allusion to the Eaglets

WHEN like an Eaglet, I first found my love,

For that the virtue I thereof would know,

Upon the nest I set it forth, to prove

If it were of that kingly kind or no:

But it no sooner saw my sun appear,

But on her rays with open eyes it stood;

To shew that I had hatched it for the air,

And rightly came from that brave-mounting brood.

And when the plumes were sunned with sweet Desire,

To prove the pinions, it ascends the skies!

Do what I could, it needsly would aspire

To my soul’s sun, those two celestial Eyes.

Thus from my breast, where it was bred alone,

It after thee is, like an Eaglet flown.