| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Idea | | Sonnet 44. Whilst thus my pen strives to eternize thee | | Michael Drayton (1563–1631) |
| | [First printed in 1599 (No. 43), and in all later editions.] |
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WHILST thus my pen strives to eternize thee, | |
| Age rules my lines with wrinkles in my face; | |
| Where, in the Map of all my Misery, | |
| Is modelled out the World of my disgrace: | |
| Whilst in despite of tyrannizing Times, | 5 |
| MEDEAlike, I make thee young again! | |
| Proudly thou scorn’st my world-outwearing rhymes, | |
| And murder’st Virtue with thy coy disdain! | |
| And though in youth, my youth untimely perish, | |
| To keep Thee from oblivion and the grave; | 10 |
| Ensuing Ages yet my Rhymes shall cherish, | |
| Where I entombed, my better part shall save; | |
| And though this earthly body fade and die, | |
| My Name shall mount upon Eternity! | | | |
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