Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888.

The Fugitive

Philippe Desportes (1546–1606)

THIS little child, young Love so blind,

His mother seeks him gone astray;

And as she seeks him she may find,

Hid in my heart, the runaway.

Betwixt the twain there’s to my mind

No little danger in delay;—

The mother’s dangerous I’ve divined,

And dangerous is the child they say.

He, if retained, will scorch my heart,

And if I bid him thence depart,

He still to me will cruel prove:—

Nay, in my heart, child, shalt thou stay;

Yet closer would I fold thee, Love,

So nestling burn less fierce, I pray.