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,

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!

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.