Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
DiellaSonnet XXXVI. Long did I wish, before I could attain
Richard Linche (fl. 1596–1601)L
the looked-for sight, I so desired to see;
Too soon, at last I saw what bred my bane,
and ever since hath sore tormented me.
I saw Herself, whom had I never seen,
my wealth of bliss had not been turned to bale.
Greedy regard of Her, my heart’s sole queen,
hath changed my summer’s sun to winter’s hail.
How oft have I, since that first fatal hour,
beheld her all-fair shape with begging eye,
Till She, unkind, hath killed me with a lower,
and bade my humble-suing looks look by.
O pity me, fair Love! and highest fame
Shall blazèd be, in honour of thy name.