| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Fidessa | | Sonnet LIX. Do I, unto a cruel tiger play | | Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602) |
| | | DO I, unto a cruel tiger play; | |
| That preys on me, as wolf upon the lambs? | |
| (Who fear the danger, both of night and day, | |
| And run for succour to their tender dams) | |
| Yet will I pray (though She be ever cruel!) | 5 |
| On bended knee, and with submissive heart! | |
| She is the fire, and I must be the fuel. | |
| She must inflict, and I endure the smart. | |
| She must, She shall be mistress of her will; | |
| And I, poor I, obedient to the same: | 10 |
| As fit to suffer death, as She to kill; | |
| As ready to be blamed, as She to blame. | |
| And for I am the subject of her ire, | |
| All men shall know thereby my love entire. | | | | |
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