Truce, gentle Love, a parley now I crave; <br />Methinks 'tis long since first these wars begun; <br />Nor thou nor I the better yet can have; <br />Bad is the match where neither party won. <br />I offer free conditions of fair peace, <br />My heart for hostage that it shall remain; <br />Discharge our forces, here let malice cease, <br />So for my pledge thou give me pledge again. <br />Or if no thing but death will serve thy turn, <br />Still thirsting for subversion of my state, <br />Do what thou canst, rase, massacre, and burn; <br />Let the world see the utmost of thy hate; <br />I send defiance, since, if overthrown, <br />Thou vanquishing, the conquest is my own.<br /><br />Michael Drayton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-lxiii-truce-gentle-love/
