| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | O Crudelis Amor | | By George Peele (1556–1596) |
| | | O GENTLE Love, ungentle for thy deed, | |
| Thou mak’st my heart | |
| A bloody mark | |
| With piercing shot to bleed. | |
| Shoot soft, sweet Love, for fear thou shoot amiss; | 5 |
| For fear too keen | |
| Thy arrows been, | |
| And hit the heart where my Belovèd is. | |
| Too fair that fortune were, nor never I | |
| Shall be so blest, | 10 |
| Among the rest, | |
| That Love shall seize on her by sympathy. | |
| Then since with Love my prayers bear no boot, | |
| This doth remain | |
| To cease my pain, | 15 |
| I take the wound and die at Venus’ foot. | | | | |
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