Heaven nor earth will not, myself cannot make
A way through want to free my soul from care;
But I must pine, and in my pining lurk
Lest my sad looks bewray me how I fare.
My fortune mantled with a cloud s'obscure,
Thus shades my life so long as wants endure.
VII
My cares draw on mine everlasting night,
In horror's sable clouds sets my life's sun;
My life's sweet sun, my dearest comfort's light
Shall rise no more to me whose day is done.
I'll go before unto the myrtle shades,
T'attend the presence of my world's dear;
And there prepare her flowers that never fades,
And all things fit against her coming there.
If any ask me why so soon I came,
I'll hide her sin and say it was my lot.
In life and death I'll tender her good name;
My life nor death shall never be her blot.
Although this world may seem her deed to blame,
The Elysian ghosts shall never know the same.
DIANA
BY
HENRY CONSTABLE
HENRY CONSTABLE
The sonnet-cycle in the hands of Henry Constable seems to have been in
the first place rather a record of a succession of "moment's monuments"
than a single dramatic scheme, even an embryonic one. The quaint preface
found in the Harleian transcript of the _Diana_ shows this, and at the
same time tells what freedom was at that period allowed in the structure
and dove-tailing of a sonnet-cycle.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50