| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Diella | | Sonnet XXX. He that can count the candles of the sky | | Richard Linche (fl. 1596–1601) |
| | | HE that can count the candles of the sky, | |
| reckon the sands whereon Pactolus flows, | |
| Or number numberless small atomie[s], | |
| what strange and hideous monsters Nilus shows, | |
| What mis-shaped beasts vast Africa doth yield, | 5 |
| what rare-formed fishes live in the ocean, | |
| What coloured flowers do grow in Tempe’s field, | |
| how many hours are since the world began: | |
| Let him, none else, give judgement of my grief! | |
| let him declare the beauties of my Love! | 10 |
| And he will say my pains pass all relief: | |
| and he will judge her for a Saint above! | |
| But, as those things, there’s no man can unfold | |
| So, nor her Fair, nor my Grief may be told! | | | | |
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