| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Wounded I Am | | Anonymous |
| | | WOUNDED I am, and dare not seek relief | |
| For this new stroke unseen but not unfelt: | |
| No blood nor bruise is witness of my grief, | |
| But sighs and tears wherewith I mourn and melt. | |
| If I complain, my witness is suspect; | 5 |
| If I contain, with cares I am undone: | |
| Sit still and die, tell truth and be reject: | |
| O hateful choice that sorrow cannot shun! | |
| Yet of us twain whose loss shall be the less, | |
| Mine of my life or you of your good name? | 10 |
| Light is my death, regarding my distress, | |
| But your offence cries out to your defame, | |
| A virgin fair hath slain, for lack of grace, | |
| The man that made an idol of her face! | | | | |
|
|