E C Esquire

1500-1600 / England

Sonnet Xviii

Emaricdulf
, if thou this riddle reade,
This darke
AEnigma
that I will demand thee,
Then for thy wisedomes well deseruing meede,
In loues pure dutie thou shalt ay command mee.
A Turtle that had chose his louing mate,
Sate seemly percht vpon a red rose breere:
Yet saw a bird (ayres paragon for state)
That farre surpast his late espoused deere:
He chang'd himselfe into that lustfull bird
That
Iuno
loues, and to his loue resorted:
And thought with amorous speeches to haue firde
Her constant heart: but her in vaine he courted.
When bootles he had woo'd her to his paine,
He tooke his leaue and turn'd his shape againe.
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