| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Licia | | Sonnet VIII. Hard are the rocks, the marble, and the steel | | Giles Fletcher (1586?–1623) |
| | | HARD are the rocks, the marble, and the steel, | |
| The ancient oak with wind and weather tosst; | |
| But you, my Love, far harder do I feel | |
| Than flint, or these, or is the winter’s frost. | |
| My tears too weak, your heart they cannot move; | 5 |
| My sighs, that rock, like wind it cannot rent; | |
| Too tiger-like, you swear you cannot love: | |
| But tears and sighs you fruitless back have sent. | |
| The frost too hard, not melted with my flame; | |
| I cinders am, and yet you feel no heat: | 10 |
| Surpass not these, sweet Love, for very shame! | |
| But let my tears, my vows, my sighs entreat! | |
| Then shall I say, as I by trial find, | |
| These all are hard; but you, my Love, are kind. | | | | |
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