Sonnet XI

First in my verse, I hitherto have set

The burning love in which my passions glow,

But now that kinder looks your eyes bestow,

All but my constancy I would forget.

Even Love himself, whose spirits help avails me yet,

Aware how mortal spirits often go

From change to change, now stands amazed to know

That, loving you, I love without regret.

Many there are who burn with hot desires,

Yet in the end their self-consuming fires

To wisps of smoke or scraps of ash will turn.

But in their squalor let such lovers lie;

I am well pleased if you consent to learn

My fire, till I am dead, will never die.