Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
Sonnets after Astrophel, etc.Sonnet VIII. Oft and in vain my rebel thoughts have ventured
Samuel Daniel (15621619)[Reprinted in Daniel’s Delia, edition 1592, but not in the final edition 1594. ]
O
To stop the passage of my vanquished heart;
And close the way, my friendly foe first entered:
Striving thereby to free my better part.
Whilst guarding thus the windows of my thought,
Where my heart’s thief to vex me made her choice;
And thither all my forces to transport:
Another passage opens at her voice.
Her voice betrays me to her hand and eye,
My freedom’s tyrant, glorying in her art:
But, ah! sweet foe! small is the victory,
With three such powers to plague one silly heart.
Yet my soul’s sovereign! since I must resign;
Reign in my thoughts! My love and life are thine!