Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
Amoretti and EpithalamionSonnet LXVIII. Most glorious Lord of life! that, on this day
Edmund Spenser (1552?1599)M
Did’st make thy triumph over death and sin;
And, having harrow’d hell, did’st bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win:
This joyous day, dear Lord, with joy begin;
And grant that we, for whom thou diddest die,
Being with thy dear blood clean wash’d from sin,
May live for ever in felicity!
And that thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love thee for the same again;
And for thy sake, that all like deer did’st buy,
With love may one another entertain!
So let us love, dear love, like as we ought:
Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.