| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | IV. Absence Lamented, Dove-like | | By Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599) |
| | | LIKE as the culver on the baréd bough | |
| Sits mourning for the absence of her mate; | |
| And in her songs sends many a wishful vow | |
| For his return that seems to linger late: | |
| So I alone, now left disconsolate, | 5 |
| Mourn to myself the absence of my Love; | |
| And, wandering here and there all desolate, | |
| Seek with my plaints to match that mournful dove: | |
| Ne joy of aught that under heaven doth hove 1 | |
| Can comfort me, but her own joyous sight; | 10 |
| Whose sweet aspect both God and man can move | |
| In her unspotted pleasance to delight. | |
| Dark is my day, whiles her fair light I miss; | |
| And dead my life, that wants such lively bliss. | |
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