Like as the wind with raging blast Doth cause each tree to bow and bend, Even so do I spend my time in waste, My life consuming unto an end. For as the flame by force doth quench the fire, And running streams consume the rain, Even so do I myself desire To augment my grief and deadly pain. Whereas I find that hot is hot, And cold is cold, by course of kind, So shall I knit an endless knot; Such fruit in love, alas, I find. When I foresaw those crystal streams, Whose beauty doth cause my mortal wound, I little thought within those beams So sweet a venom for to have found. I feel and see my own decay, As one that beareth flame in his breast, Forgetful thought to put away, The thing that bredeth my unrest. Like as the fly doth seek the flame And afterward playeth in the fire, Who findeth her woe and seeketh her game, Whose grief doth grow of her own desire. Like as the spider doth draw her line, As labor lost so is my suit; The gain is hers, the loss is mine, Of evil sown seed such is the fruit. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FAREWELL TO TOBACCO by CHARLES LAMB SONNET: 14. ON THE RELIGIOUS MEMORY OF CATHERINE THOMASON by JOHN MILTON A PAUSE by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 129 by ALFRED TENNYSON THE CASE OF SABRINA SIMPSON USCH by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS PSALM 132 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |