Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Delia

Sonnet XXX. And yet, I cannot reprehend the flight

Samuel Daniel (1562–1619)

AND yet, I cannot reprehend the flight,

Or blame th’attempt, presuming so to soar:

The mounting venture, for a high delight,

Did make the honour of the fall the more.

For who gets wealth, that puts not from the shore?

Danger hath honour! great designs, their fame!

Glory doth follow! courage goes before!

And though th’event oft answers not the same;

Suffice that high attempts have never shame.

The Mean-observer (whom base safety keeps)

Lives without honour, dies without a name;

And in eternal darkness ever sleeps.

And therefore, D E L I A! ’tis to me, no blot;

To have attempted, though attained thee not!