Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Laura—Part III

XXXVI. With thousand bands of furious inward heat

Robert Tofte (1561–1620)

WITH thousand bands of furious inward heat,

Love binds my soul; and burns my gentle heart:

And, two ways, LAURA, death to me doth threat

With Colour fresh; and wanton Eye, like dart.

This for reward for all my love I gain.

For my goodwill, two enemies I have:

LAURA and Love. Four plagues conspire my pain,

Because I like; and what ’s but just, do crave:

Fire, roseal Colour, Eyes, and cruel Band.

These, at the gaze of Beauty, make me stand.