Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
IdeaSonnet 52. What dost thou mean, to cheat me of my heart?
Michael Drayton (1563–1631)[First printed in 1619. ]
W
To take all mine, and give me none again?
Or have thine eyes such magic, or that Art
That what they get, they ever do retain?
Play not the Tyrant, but take some remorse!
Rebate thy spleen, if but for pity’s sake!
Or cruel, if thou can’st not, let us scorse!
And for one piece of thine, my whole heart take!
But what of pity, do I speak to thee!
Whose breast is proof against complaint or prayer:
Or can I think what my reward shall be
From that proud Beauty, which was my betrayer!
What talk I of a heart, when thou hast none!
Or if thou hast, it is a flinty one.