| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Parthenophil and Parthenophe | | Sonnet X. Yet give me leave, since all my joys be perished | | Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609) |
| | | YET give me leave, since all my joys be perished, | |
| Heart-less, to moan for my poor Heart’s departure! | |
| Nor should I mourn for him, if he were cherished. | |
| Ah, no! She keeps him like a slavish martyr. | |
| Ah, me! Since merciless, she made that charter, | 5 |
| Sealed with the wax of steadfast continence, | |
| Signed with those hands which never can unwrite it, | |
| Writ with that pen, which (by preeminence) | |
| Too sure confirms whats’ever was indightit: | |
| What skills to wear thy girdle, or thy garter; | 10 |
| When other arms shall thy small waist embrace? | |
| How great a waste of mind and body’s weal! | |
| Now melts my soul! I, to thine eyes appeal! | |
| If they, thy tyrant champions, owe me grace. | | | | |
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