PART THREE

A Lover’s Vow

Set me whereas the sun doth parch the green,

Or where his beams may not dissolve the ice,

In temperate heat, where he is felt and seen;

With proud people, in presence sad and wise,

Set me in base, or yet in high degree;

In the long night, or in the shortest day;

In clear weather, or where mists thickest be;

In lusty youth, or when my hairs be gray;

Set me in earth, in heaven, or yet in hell;

In hill, in dale, or in the foaming flood;

Thrall, or at large, alive whereso I dwell;

Sick or in health, in ill fame or in good;

Yours will I be, and with that only thought

Comfort myself when that my hap is naught.

—Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey