Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Chloris

Sonnet XXXIV. The bird of Thrace, which doth bewail her rape

William Smith (fl. 1596)

THE BIRD of Thrace, which doth bewail her rape

And murdered ITIS eaten by his Sire,

When she her woes in doleful tunes doth shape;

She sets her breast against a thorny briar.

Because care-charmer Sleep should not disturb

The tragic tale which to the night she tells;

She doth her rest and quietness thus curb,

Amongst the groves where secret silence dwells.

Even so I wake; and waking, wail all night

CHLORIS’ unkindness, slumbers doth expel.

I need not thorns, sweet sleep to put to flight.

Her cruelty, my golden rest doth quell:

That day and night to me are only one;

Consumed in woe, in tears, in sighs, and moan.