Tears, vows, and prayers win the hardest heart: <br />Tears, vows, and prayers have I spent in vain; <br />Tears cannot soften flint, nor vows convert; <br />Prayers prevail not with a quaint disdain. <br />I lose my tears where I have lost my love; <br />I vow my faith where faith is not regarded; <br />I pray in vain a merciless to move; <br />So rare a faith ought better be rewarded. <br />Yet though I cannot win her will with tears, <br />Though my soul's idol scorneth all my vows, <br />Though all my prayers be to so deaf ears, <br />No favor though the cruel Fair allows. <br />Yet will I weep, vow, pray to cruel she; <br />Flint, frost, disdain wears, melts, and yields we see.<br /><br />Samuel Daniel<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-xi-tears-vows-and-prayers/
