Lackyng my love I go from place to place,
lyke a young fawne that late hath lost the hynd:
and seeke each where, where last I sawe her face,
whose ymage yet I carry fresh in mynd.
I seeke the fields with her late footing synd,
I seeke her bowre with her late presence deckt,
yet nor in field nor bowre I her can fynd:
yet field and bowre are full of her aspect,
But when myne eyes I thereunto direct,
they ydly back returne to me agayne,
and when I hope to see theyr trew obiecct,
I fynd my selfe but fed with fancies vayne.
Ceasse then myne eyes, to seeke her selfe to see,
and let my thoughts behold her selfe in mee.
Fawns and hinds again but this time the poet casts himself in the role of lost fawn and his beloved as his lost mother. Nothing weird about that at all. The heavy repetition is also remarkable and highlights the artifice of the poem. The transformation of real events into literature finds a new form here: the loved one disappears and is re-embodied in the change she has brought about in the lover.
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