The Constant Lover Lamenteth, Henry Howard Earl of Surrey

edited by John McEvoy, 1997

"The Constant Lover Lamenteth" was first published by Richard Tottel in the first 1557 edition of Songs and Sonnets in the section at the very end entitled "Other Songs and Sonnets Written by the Earl of Surrey". In his introduction to the poems, entitled "The Printer to the Reader", Tottel says that the reason he is publishing Songs and Sonnets is "to publish, to the honor of the English tongue, and for profit of the studious of English eloquence, those works which the ungentle horders up of treasure have heretofore envied thee." Surrey was a courtier, and this poem was probably written,in part, to show how eloquently witty he could be. 

	Since fortune's wrath envieth the wealth	
    	Wherein I reigned by the sight		
	Of that that fed my eyes by stealth		
	With sour sweet, dread and delight,		
	Let not my grief move you to moan,		5
	For I will weep and wail alone.			
    	  Spite drave me into Boreas' reign,		
	Where hoary frosts the fruits do bite,		
	When hills were spread and every plain		
	With stormy winter's mantle white.		10	
	And yet, my dear, such was my heat,		
	When others freeze then did I sweat.		
  	  And now though on the sun I drive		
	Whose fervent flame all things decays,		
	His beams in brightness may not strive		15
	With light of your sweet golden rays,		
	Nor from my breast this heat remove,		
	The frozen thoughts graven by love.		
	  Nor may the waves of the salt flood		
	Quench that your beauty set on fire,		20
	For though mine eyes forbear the food		
	That did relieve the hot desire,		
	Such as I was, such will I be,			
	Your own.  What would you more of me?

2reigned] flourished, (pronounced with two syllables)
3 that that] that which.
7 drave] drove, the archaic northern England past tense form. Boreas] the mythological place from which the North Wind originates; a cold place.
18 graven] engraved.
20 that] that which.

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