Sonnet 62. When first I ended, then I first began

Michael Drayton (1563–1631)

[First printed in 1594 (No. 50), and in all later editions.]

WHEN first I ended, then I first began;

Then more I travelled further from my rest.

Where most I lost, there most of all I wan;

Pined with hunger, rising from a feast.

Methinks, I fly, yet want I legs to go;

Wise in conceit, in act a very sot.

Ravished with joy amidst a hell of woe;

What most I seem that surest am I not.

I build my hopes, a world above the sky;

Yet with the mole I creep into the earth.

In plenty I am starved with penury;

And yet I surfeit in the greatest dearth.

I have, I want; despair, and yet desire:

Burned in a sea of ice, and drowned amidst a fire.