The knot which first my heart did strain, When that your servant I became, Doth bind me still for to remain Always your own, as now I am. And if ye find that I do feign, With just judgment myself I damn To have disdain. If other thought in me do grow But still to love you steadfastly, If that the proof do not well show That I am yours assuredly, Let every wealth turn me to woe, And you to be continually My chiefest foe. If other love or new request Do ease my heart, but only this, Or if within my wearied breast Be hid one thought that mean amiss, I do desire that mine unrest May still increase, and I to miss That I love best. If in my love there be one spot Of false deceit or doubleness, Or if I mind to slip this knot By want of faith or steadfastness, Let all my service be forgot, And when I would have chief redress Esteem me not. But if that I consume in pain Of burning sighs and fervent love, And daily seek none other gain But with my deed these words to prove, Methink of right I should obtain That ye would mind for to remove Your great disdain. And for the end of this my song Unto your hands I do submit My deadly grief and pains so strong, Which in my heart be firmly shut. And when ye list, redress my wrong, Since well ye know this painful fit Hath last too long. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TWO VOYAGERS by EMILY DICKINSON THE WILD HONEYSUCKLE by PHILIP FRENEAU THE FLIGHT OF YOUTH by RICHARD HENRY STODDARD TICHBORNE'S ELEGY, WRITTEN IN THE TOWER BEFORE HIS EXECUTION by CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE THE DOUBLE STANDARD by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS MYRTILLA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |