| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Parthenophil and Parthenophe | | Sonnet XXI. Yea, but uncertain hopes are Anchors feeble | | Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609) |
| | | YEA, but uncertain hopes are Anchors feeble, | |
| When such faint-hearted pilots guide my ships, | |
| Of all my fortune’s Ballast with hard pebble, | |
| Whose doubtful voyage proves not worth two chips. | |
| If when but one dark cloud shall dim the sky, | 5 |
| The Cables of hope’s happiness be cut; | |
| When bark, with thoughts-drowned mariners shall lie, | |
| Prest for the whirlpool of grief’s endless glut. | |
| If well thou mean, PARTHENOPHE! then ravish | |
| Mine heart, with doubtless hope of mutual love! | 10 |
| If otherwise; then let thy tongue run lavish! | |
| For this, or that, am I resolved to prove! | |
| And both, or either ecstasy shall move | |
| Me! ravished, end with surfeit of relief; | |
| Or senseless, daunted, die with sudden grief. | 15 | | | |
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