| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Delia | | Sonnet IV. These plaintive verse[s], the Posts of my desire | | Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) |
| | | THESE plaintive verse[s], the Posts of my desire, | |
| Which haste for succour to her slow regard; | |
| Bear not report of any slender fire, | |
| Forging a grief, to win a fame’s reward. | |
| Nor are my passions limned for outward hue, | 5 |
| For that no colours can depaint my sorrows: | |
| D E L I A herself, and all the world may view | |
| Best in my face, where cares hath tilled deep furrows. | |
| No bays I seek, to deck my mourning brow, | |
| O clear-eyed Rector of the holy Hill! | 10 |
| My humble accents bear the olive bough | |
| Of intercession to a tyrant’s will. | |
| These lines I use, t’unburden mine own heart; | |
| My love affects no fame, nor ’steems of art. | | | | |
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