Rosader's Sonnet
In sorrow's cell I laid me down to sleep,
But waking woes were jealous of mine eyes,
They made them watch, and bend themselves to weep,
But weeping tears their want could not suffice:
Yet since for her they wept who guides my heart,
They weeping smile, and triumph in their smart.
Of these my tears a fountain fiercely springs,
Where Venus bains[1] herself incensed with love,
Where Cupid bowseth[2] his fair feathered wings;
But I behold what pains I must approve.
Care drinks it dry; but when on her I think,
Love makes me weep it full unto the brink.
Meanwhile my sighs yield truce unto my tears,
By them the winds increased and fiercely blow:
Yet when I sigh the flame more plain appears,
And by their force with greater power doth glow:
Amid these pains, all phoenix-like I thrive
Since love, that yields me death, may life revive.[3]
Rosader en esperance.
[Footnote 1: bathes.]
[Footnote 2: dips.]
[Footnote 3: This song is said to be an imitation of Desportes's sonnet beginning,
Si je me siez à l'ombre aussi soudainement.]
"Now, surely, forester," quoth Aliena, "when thou madest this sonnet, thou wert in some amorous quandary, neither too fearful as despairing of thy mistress' favors, nor too gleesome as hoping in thy fortunes."