| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Parthenophil and Parthenophe | [Dedicatory Sonnets]
To the Right Honourable, most renowned and valiant Robert, Earl of Essex and Ewe | | Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609) |
| | | VOUCHSAFE, thrice valiant Lord! this Verse to read, | |
| When time from cares of more import, permits; | |
| The too dear charge of my unchargèd wits! | |
| And that I do my lighter Muses lead | |
| To kiss your sacred hands! I mildly plead | 5 |
| For pardon; where all gracious virtue sits. | |
| Since time of yore, their Lord’s firstfruits admits; | |
| My bashful Muse (which lost her maidenhead | |
| In too dear travail of my restless Love) | |
| To you, my Lord! her first-born babe presents! | 10 |
| Unworthy such a patron! for her lightness. | |
| Yet deign her zeal! though not the light contents; | |
| Till, from your virtues (registered above), | |
| To make her Love more known, she borrow brightness. | | | | |
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