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Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  »  Sonnet III. Swift-footed Time! look back! and here mark well

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Diella

Sonnet III. Swift-footed Time! look back! and here mark well

Richard Linche (fl. 1596–1601)

SWIFT-FOOTED Time! look back! and here mark well

those rare-shaped parts my pen shall now declare!

My Mistress’ snow-white Skin doth much excel

the pure soft wool Arcadian sheep do bear!

Her Hair exceeds gold forced in smallest wire,

in smaller threads than those ARACHNE spun!

Her Eyes are crystal fountains, yet dart fire

more glorious to behold than midday sun!

Her ivory Front, though soft as purest silk,

looks like the table of Olympic JOVE!

Her Cheeks are like ripe cherries laid in milk!

her alabaster Neck, the throne of LOVE!

Her other parts so far excel the rest,

That wanting words, they cannot be expressed!