Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
Amoretti and EpithalamionSonnet IV. New year, forth looking out of Janus gate
Edmund Spenser (1552?1599)N
Doth seem to promise hope of new delight:
And, bidding th’ old Adieu, his passed date
Bids all old thoughts to die in dumpish spright;
And, calling forth out of sad winter’s night
Fresh Love, that long hath slept in cheerless bower,
Wills him awake, and soon about him dight
His wanton wings and darts of deadly power.
For lusty Spring now in his timely hour
Is ready to come forth, him to receive;
And warns the earth with divers-coloured flower
To deck herself, and her fair mantle weave.
Then you, fair flower! in whom fresh youth doth reign,
Prepare yourself new love to entertain.