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Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  »  Sonnet I. When first the feathered god did strike my heart

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Diella

Sonnet I. When first the feathered god did strike my heart

Richard Linche (fl. 1596–1601)

WHEN first the feathered god did strike my heart

with fatal and immedicable wound,

Leaving behind the head of his fell dart;

my bloodless body fell unto the ground.

And, when with shame I reinforced my might,

boldly to gaze on her so heavenly face,

Huge flames of fire She darted from her light,

which since have scorched me in most piteous case.

To quench which heat, an ocean of tears

have gushèd out from forth my red-swollen eyes.

But deep-fetched sighs, this raging flame uprears,

and blow the sparks up to the purple skies:

Whereat, the gods, afraid that heaven should burn,

Intreated LOVE, that I, for e’er might mourn.