The Seventh Decade. Sonnet VII. Thou wilt persèver ever to disdain me

Henry Constable (1562–1613)

THOU wilt persèver ever to disdain me;

And I shall then die; when thou will repent it:

O do not therefore from complaint restrain me!

And take my life from me, to me that lent it.

For whilst these accents, weepingly exprest

In humble lines, of reverentest zeal,

Have issue to complaint from mine unrest;

They but thy beauty’s wonder shall reveal.

And though the grieved Muse of some other lover,

(Whose less devotions knew but woes like mine)

Would rather seek occasion to discover

How little pitiful, and how much unkind;

They other (not so worthy) beauties find.

O, I not so; but seek, with humble prayer,

Means how to move th’unmercifullest Fair.