Poem by Edmund Spenser

Amoretti 14. Retourne agayne, my forces late dismayd

Retourne agayne, my forces late dismayd,
Unto the siege by you abandon’d quite.
Great shame it is to leave, like one afrayd,
So fayre a peece* for one repulse so light.
’Gaynst such strong castles needeth greater might
Then those small forts which ye were wont belay**:
Such haughty mynds, enur’d to hardy fight,
Disdayne to yield unto the first assay.
Bring therefore all the forces that ye may,
And lay incessant battery to her heart;
Playnts, prayers, vowes, ruth, sorrow, and dismay;
Those engins can the proudest love convert:
   And, if those fayle, fall down and dy before her;
   So dying live, and living do adore her.

[* Peece, fortress.]
[** Belay, beleaguer.] 

1. Amoretti 10. Unrighteous Lord of love, what law is this
2. Amoretti 61. The glorious image of the Makers beautie
3. Amoretti 24. When I behold that beauties wonderment
4. Amoretti 52. So oft as homeward I from her depart
5. Amoretti 75. One day I wrote her name upon the strand

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