E. C.
The initials "E. C." appear on the title page of the sonnet sequence
Emaricdulfe. The full name of the author is not known. See
brief commentary by John Erskine.
From Emaricdulfe (1595)
"Within her hair Venus and Cupid sport them"
Within her hair Venus and Cupid sport them;
Some time they twist it, amber-like, in gold,
To which the whistling winds do oft resort them,
As if they strove to have the knots unrolled;
Some time they let their golden tresses dangle,
And therewith nets and amorous gins they make
Wherewith the hearts of lovers to entangle,
Which once enthralled, no ransom they will take.
But as two tyrants sitting in their thrones
Look on their slaves with tyrannizing eyes;
So they, no whit regarding lovers' moans,
Doom worlds of hearts to endless slaveries
Unless they subject-like swear to adore
And serve Emaricdulfe forevermore.
"I am enchanted with thy snow-white hands"
I am enchanted with thy snow-white hands
That maze me with their quaint dexterity,
And with their touch tie in a thousand bands
My yielding heart ever to honor thee;
Thought of thy dainty fingers long and small,
For pretty action that exceed compare,
Sufficient is to bless me, and withal
To free my chainéd thoughts from sorrow's snare.
But that which crowns my soul with heavenly bliss,
And gives my heart fruition of all joys,
Their dainty concord and sweet music is,
That poisons grief and cureth all annoys.
Those eyes that see, those ears are blest that hear
These heavenly gifts of nature in my dear.
"My heart is like a ship on Neptune's back"
My heart is like a ship on Neptune's back;
Thy beauty is the sea where my ship saileth;
Thy frowns the surges are that threat my wrack,
Thy smiles the winds that on my sails soft galeth.
Long tossed betwixt fair hope and foul despair,
My sea-sick heart, arrivéd on thy shore--
Thy love, I mean--begs that he may repair
His broken vessel with thy bounteous store.
Dido relieved Aeneas in distress,
And lent him love, and gave to him her heart;
If half such bounty thou to me express,
From thy fair shore I never will depart,
But thank kind fortune that my course did sort
To suffer shipwreck on so sweet a port.
