Sonnet 572

Would it please you if I your Valentine

Should proffer love upon a bended knee,

And would you then by ardor’s grace in kind

There clasp that heart bestowed so graciously?

And pray would you adore the flowers I bring

And yet the baubles I would have you wear,

While then perhaps the sweetest birds might sing

As my heart bravely knocks on heaven’s door.

Alas, I fear you hardly know my name

For I still worship you but from afar;

Not strength of love but some strange fear within

Keeps that door closed though it be left ajar.

I stand here fettered by my own love’s might,

By limbs made weak when e’er you grace my sight.

Loubert S Suddaby poems