| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Parthenophil and Parthenophe | | Elegy II. O that, some time, thou saw mine endless fits | | Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609) |
| | | O THAT, some time, thou saw mine endless fits; | |
| When I have somewhat of thy beauty pondered! | |
| Thou could not be persuaded that my wits | |
| Could once retire so far from Sense asundered! | |
| Furies, themselves, have at my Passions wondered! | 5 |
| Yet thou, PARTHENOPHE! well pleasèd, sits, | |
| Whilst in me, so thy moisture’s heat hath thundered, | |
| And thine eyes’ darts, at every Colon, hits | |
| My soul with double pricks, which mine heart splits: | |
| Whose fainting breath, with sighing Commas broken, | 10 |
| Draws on the sentence of my death, by pauses; | |
| Ever prolonging out mine endless clauses | |
| With “Ifs” Parenthesis, yet find no token | |
| When with my grief, I should stand even or odd. | |
| My life still making preparations, | 15 |
| Through thy love’s darts, to bear the Period; | |
| Yet stumbleth on Interrogations! | |
| These are those scholar-like vexations | |
| Which grieve me, when those studies I apply. | |
| I miss my lesson still! but, with love’s rod, | 20 |
| For each small accent sounded but awry, | |
| Am I tormented! Yet, I cannot die! | | | | |
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