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Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Licia

Sonnet XXXVI. I speak, fair Licia, what my torments be

Giles Fletcher (1586?–1623)

I SPEAK, fair LICIA, what my torments be;

But then my speech too partial do I find:

For hardly words can with those thoughts agree:

Those thoughts that swarm in such a troubled mind.

Then do I vow my tongue shall never speak,

Nor tell my grief that in my heart doth lie:

But, cannon-like, I, then surcharged, do break.

And so my silence worse than speech I try.

Thus speech, or none, they both do breed my care:

I live dismayed and kill my heart with grief.

In all respects my case alike doth fare.

To him that wants; and dares not ask relief.

Then you, fair LICIA, Sovereign of my heart,

Read to yourself my anguish and my smart!