Sonnet XLIII. Shall I then silent be, or shall I speak?

Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)

SHALL I then silent be, or shall I speak?

And, if I speak, her wrath renew I shall;

And, if I silent be, my heart will break,

Or choked be with overflowing gall.

What tyranny is this, both my heart to thrall,

And eke my tongue with proud restraint to tie;

That neither I may speak nor think at all,

But like a stupid stock in silence die!

Yet I my heart with silence secretly

Will teach to speak, and my just cause to plead;

And eke mine eyes, with meek humility,

Love-learned letters to her eyes to read;

Which her deep wit, that true heart’s thought can spell,

Will soon conceive, and learn to construe well.