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Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  »  Sonnet XXXI. I burn, yet am I cold! I am a cold, yet burn!

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Parthenophil and Parthenophe

Sonnet XXXI. I burn, yet am I cold! I am a cold, yet burn!

Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609)

I BURN, yet am I cold! I am a cold, yet burn!

In pleasing, discontent! in discontentment, pleased!

Diseased, I am in health! and healthful, am diseased!

In turning back, proceed! proceeding, I return!

In mourning, I rejoice! and in rejoicing, mourn!

In pressing, I step back! in stepping back, I pressed!

In gaining, still I lose! and in my losses, gain!

Grounded, I waver still! and wavering, still am grounded!

Unwounded, yet not sound! and being sound, am wounded!

Slain, yet am I alive! and yet alive, am slain!

Hounded, my heart rests still! still resting, is it hounded!

In pain, I feel no grief! yet void of grief, in pain!

Unmoved, I vex myself! unvexed, yet am I moved!

Beloved, She loves me not; yet is She my beloved!