Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
DianaThe Fifth Decade. Sonnet III. If ever Sorrow spoke from soul that loves
Henry Constable (15621613)I
As speaks a spirit in a man possest;
In me, her spirit speaks. My soul it moves,
Whose sigh-swoll’n words breed whirlwinds in my breast:
Or like the echo of a passing bell,
Which sounding on the water, seems to howl;
So rings my heart a fearful heavy knell,
And keeps all night in consort with the owl.
My cheeks with a thin ice of tears are clad,
Mine eyes like morning stars are bleared and red:
What resteth then, but I be raging mad,
To see that She, my cares’ chief conduit-head,
When all streams else help quench my burning heart,
Shuts up her springs; and will no grace impart.