Mary Wroth
The Crown Sonnets
Except my heart which you bestowed before,
And for a sign of conquest gave away
As worthless to be kept in your choice store
Yet one more spotless with you doth not stay.
The tribute which my heart doth truly pay
Faith untouched is, pure thoughts discharge the score
Of debts for me, where constancy bears sway,
And rules as Lord, unharmed by envy's sore.
Yet other mischiefs fail not to attend,
As enemies to you, my foes must be;
Curst jealousy doth all her forces bend
To my undoing; thus my harms I see.
So though in love I fervently do burn,
In this strange labyrinth how shall I turn?