| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Sonnets after Astrophel, etc. | | Sonnet VIII. Oft and in vain my rebel thoughts have ventured | | Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) |
| | [Reprinted in Daniel’s Delia, edition 1592, but not in the final edition 1594.] |
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OFT and in vain my rebel thoughts have ventured | |
| To stop the passage of my vanquished heart; | |
| And close the way, my friendly foe first entered: | |
| Striving thereby to free my better part. | |
| Whilst guarding thus the windows of my thought, | 5 |
| Where my heart’s thief to vex me made her choice; | |
| And thither all my forces to transport: | |
| Another passage opens at her voice. | |
| Her voice betrays me to her hand and eye, | |
| My freedom’s tyrant, glorying in her art: | 10 |
| But, ah! sweet foe! small is the victory, | |
| With three such powers to plague one silly heart. | |
| Yet my soul’s sovereign! since I must resign; | |
| Reign in my thoughts! My love and life are thine! | | | |
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