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 | The Poems and Sonnets of Henry Constable |  |
xl
TO THE Q.: UPON OCCASION OF A BOOKE HE WROTE, IN AN ANSWER TO CERTAYNE OBJECTIONS AGAINST HER PROCEEDINGS IN THE LOW-COUNTRYES.
The love wherewith youre vertues chayne my sprite
Envyes the hate I beare unto your foe;
Since hatefull pen had meanes his hate to showe,
And love like means had not of love to wryte;
Envyes the hate I beare unto your foe;
Since hatefull pen had meanes his hate to showe,
And love like means had not of love to wryte;
I meane, write that your vertues doe endite,
From which spring all my conceyts doe flow,
And of my pen my sword doth enviouse growe,
That pen before my sword youre foes should smite.
From which spring all my conceyts doe flow,
And of my pen my sword doth enviouse growe,
That pen before my sword youre foes should smite.
And to my inke my bloud doth envie beare,
That in youre cause more inke then bloud I shed;
Which envie, though it be a vice, yet heere
'Tis vertue, sith youre vertues have it bred.
Thus powerfull youre sacred vertues be,
Which vice it selfe a vertue makes in me.
That in youre cause more inke then bloud I shed;
Which envie, though it be a vice, yet heere
'Tis vertue, sith youre vertues have it bred.
Thus powerfull youre sacred vertues be,
Which vice it selfe a vertue makes in me.
| The Poems and Sonnets of Henry Constable | |