| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Idea | | Sonnet 60. Define my Weal, and tell the joys of heaven | | Michael Drayton (1563–1631) |
| | [First printed in 1594 (No. 49), and in all later editions.] |
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DEFINE my Weal, and tell the joys of heaven; | |
| Express my Woes, and shew the pains of hell! | |
| Declare what Fate unlucky stars have given! | |
| And ask a world upon my life to dwell! | |
| Make known the faith that Fortune could not move! | 5 |
| Compare my worth with others’ base desert! | |
| Let virtue be the touchstone of my Love! | |
| So may the heavens read wonders in my heart! | |
| Behold the clouds which have eclipsed my sun! | |
| And view the crosses which my course do let! | 10 |
| Tell me, if ever since the world begun | |
| So fair a rising, had so foul a set? | |
| And see, if TIME (if he would strive to prove) | |
| Can shew a Second to so pure a Love! | | | |
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