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 49. Fayre Cruell! why are ye so fierce and cruell?
2. Amoretti 32. The paynefull smith with force of fervent heat
3. Amoretti 46. When my abodes prefixed time is spent
4. Amoretti 73. Being my self captyved here in care
5. Amoretti 26. Sweet is the rose, but growes upon a brere

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