| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Idea | | Sonnet 14. If he, from heaven that filched that living fire | | Michael Drayton (1563–1631) |
| | [First printed in 1602 (No. 17), and in all later editions.] |
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IF he, from heaven that filched that living fire, | |
| Condemned by JOVE to endless torment be! | |
| I greatly marvel, how you still go free! | |
| That far beyond PROMETHEUS did aspire. | |
| The fire he stole, although of heavenly kind, | 5 |
| Which from above he craftily did take, | |
| Of liveless clods, us living men to make; | |
| He did bestow in temper of the mind. | |
| But you broke into heaven’s immortal store, | |
| Where Virtue, Honour, Wit, and Beauty lay! | 10 |
| Which taking thence, you have escaped away, | |
| Yet stand as free as e’er you did before: | |
| Yet old PROMETHEUS punished for his rape! | |
| Thus poor thieves suffer, when the greater ’scape. | | | |
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