| Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–47). The Poetical Works. 1880. | | | | Songs and Sonnets | | A Vow to love faithfully, howsoever he be rewarded |
| | | SET me whereas the sun doth parch the green, | |
| Or where his beams do not dissolve the ice; | |
| In temperate heat, where he is felt and seen; | |
| In presence prest 1 of people, mad, or wise; | |
| Set me in high, or yet in low degree; | 5 |
| In longest night, or in the shortest day; | |
| In clearest sky, or where clouds thickest be; | |
| In lusty youth, or when my hairs are gray: | |
| Set me in heaven, in earth, or else in hell, | |
| In hill, or dale, or in the foaming flood; | 10 |
| Thrall, or at large, alive whereso I dwell, | |
| Sick, or in health, in evil fame or good, | |
| Her’s will I be; and only with this thought | |
| Content myself, although my chance be nought. | |
| | | Note 1. Query, press, i. e. in the presence of a crowd of people. [back] | | |
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