Michael Drayton. Idea. Sonnet LII.

FROM

I d e a.

by Michael Drayton

LII.

WHAT ? Dost thou mean to cheat me of my heart ?
To take all mine and give me none again ?
Or have thine eyes such magic or that art,
That what they get they ever do retain ?
Play not the tyrant, but take some remorse ;
Rebate thy spleen, if but for pity's sake ;
Or, cruel, if thou canst not, let us scourse,
And, for one piece of thine, my whole heart take.
But what of pity do I speak to thee,
Whose breast is proof against complaint or prayer ?
Or can I think what my reward shall be
From that proud beauty, which was my betrayer ?
What talk I of a heart, when thou hast none ?
—Or if thou hast, it is a flinty one.

Source:
Drayton, Michael. Idea.
Daniel's Delia and Drayton's Idea. Arundell Esdaile, Ed.
London: Chatto and Windus, 1908. 119.

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