| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Diana | The Second Decade
Sonnet I. If true love might true love’s reward obtain | | Henry Constable (1562–1613) |
| | | IF true love might true love’s reward obtain, | |
| Dumb wonder only might speak of my joy; | |
| But too much worth hath made thee too much coy, | |
| And told me, long ago, I sighed in vain. | |
| Not then vain hope of undeservèd gain | 5 |
| Hath made me paint in verses mine annoy; | |
| But for thy pleasure, that thou might’st enjoy | |
| Thy beauty’s praise, in glasses of my pain. | |
| See then, thyself! (though me thou wilt not hear) | |
| By looking on my verse. For pain in verse, | 10 |
| Love doth in pain, beauty in love appear. | |
| So, if thou wouldst my verses’ meaning see, | |
| Expound them thus, when I my love rehearse, | |
| “None loves like he!” that is, “None fair like me!” | | | | |
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