| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Fidessa | | Sonnet XLIII. Tell me of love, Sweet Love, who is thy sire? | | Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602) |
| | | TELL me of love, Sweet LOVE, who is thy sire? | |
| Or if thou mortal or immortal be? | |
| Some say “Thou art begotten by Desire! | |
| Nourished with Hope! and fed with Fantasy! | |
| Engendered by a heavenly Goddess’s eye, | 5 |
| Lurking most sweetly in an angel’s face.” | |
| Others that “Beauty, thee doth deify!” | |
| (O sovereign Beauty, full of power and grace!) | |
| But I must be absurd all this denying, | |
| Because the fairest Fair alive ne’er knew thee. | 10 |
| Now, CUPID! comes thy godhead to the trying! | |
| ’Twas She alone (such is her power!) that slew me! | |
| She shall be LOVE, and thou a foolish boy! | |
| Whose virtue proves thy power is but a toy. | | | | |
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