| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Idea | | Sonnet 41. Why do I speak of joy, or write of love | | Michael Drayton (1563–1631) |
| | [First printed in 1594 (No. 43), and in all later editions.]
Love’s Lunacy |
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WHY do I speak of joy, or write of love, | |
| When my heart is the very den of horror; | |
| And in my soul the pains of hell I prove, | |
| With all his torments and infernal terror? | |
| What should I say? What yet remains to do? | 5 |
| My brain is dry with weeping all too long. | |
| My sighs be spent in uttering of my woe, | |
| And I want words wherewith to tell my wrong. | |
| But still distracted in Love’s lunacy, | |
| And Bedlamlike, thus raving in my grief. | 10 |
| Now rail upon her hair, then on her eye, | |
| Now call her “Goddess!” then I call her “Thief!” | |
| Now I deny her! then I do confess her! | |
| Now do I curse her! then again I bless her! | | | |
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