Sonnet LXXI

Portrait of Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser 1552–1599

I Ioy to see how in your drawen work, Your selfe vnto the Bee ye doe compare; and me vnto the Spyder that doth lurke, in close awayt to catch her vnaware. Right so to your selfe were caught in cunning snare of a deare foe, and thralled to his loue: in whose streight bands ye now captiued are so firmely, that ye neuer may remoue. But as your worke is wouen all about, with woodbynd flowers and fragrant Eglantine: so sweet your prison you in time shall proue, with many deare delights bedecked fyne. And all thensforth eternall peace shall see. betweene the Spyder and the gentle Bee.

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