| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Parthenophil and Parthenophe | | Ode 18. O that I could make her, whom I love best | | Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609) |
| | | O THAT I could make her, whom I love best, | |
| Find in a face, with misery wrinkled; | |
| Find in a heart, with sighs over ill-pined, | |
| Her cruel hatred! | |
| O that I could make her, whom I love best, | 5 |
| Find by my tears, what malady vexeth; | |
| Find by my throbs, how forcibly love’s dart, | |
| Wounds my decayed heart! | |
| O that I could make her, whom I love best, | |
| Tell with a sweet smile, that she respecteth | 10 |
| All my lamentings; and that, in her heart, | |
| Mournfully she rues! | |
| For my deserts were worthy the favours | |
| Of such a fair Nymph, might she be fairer! | |
| O then a firm faith, what may be richer? | 15 |
| Then to my love yield! | |
| Then will I leave these tears to the waste rocks! | |
| Then will I leave these sighs to the rough winds! | |
| O that I could make her, whom I love best, | |
| Pity my long smart! | 20 | | | |
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