Sonnet VII. Oft have mine Eyes, the Agents of mine Heart

Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602)

OFT have mine Eyes, the Agents of mine Heart

(False traitor Eyes conspiring my decay!)

Pleaded for grace with dumb and silent art,

Streaming forth tears, my sorrows to allay.

Moaning the wrong, they do unto their Lord,

Forcing the cruel Fair, by means to yield;

Making her, ’gainst her will, some grace t’afford;

And striving sore, at length to win the field,

Thus work they means to feed my fainting hope,

And strengthened hope adds matter to each thought;

Yet when they all come to their end and scope,

They do but wholly bring poor me, to nought.

She’ll never yield! although they ever cry;

And therefore we must all together die!