dots-menu
×

Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  »  XXIII. The Gentiles used, in sign of sacrifice

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Laura—Part I

XXIII. The Gentiles used, in sign of sacrifice

Robert Tofte (1561–1620)

THE GENTILES used, in sign of sacrifice,

The blood of men to offer; to appease

The warlike goddess’s wrath, in humble wise;

And through the same, her angry mind did please:

But Thou, more wicked Warrior far than she,

In reason may’st more cruel termèd be.

On Beauty’s altar, to thee dedicate;

Thousands of Lovers, mustering on a row,

Offer their blood and hearts! yet mitigate

Thy hardened mind cannot: which flint doth show.

Then is she cruel less than Thou art now:

Since blood her pleased; and Thee hearts cannot bow.