LET OTHERS SING OF KNIGHTS AND PALADINES

by: Samuel Daniel (1562-1619)

ET others sing of Knights and Paladines

In agèd accents and untimely words,

Paint shadows in imaginary lines,

Which well the reach of their high wit records:

But I must sing of thee, and those fair eyes

Authentic shall my verse in time to come;

When yet th' unborn shall say, Lo, where she lies!

Whose beauty made him speak, that else was dumb!

These are the arcs, the trophies I erect,

That fortify thy name against old age;

And these thy sacred virtues must protect

Against the Dark, and Time's consuming rage.

Though th' error of my youth in them appear,

Suffice, they show I lived, and loved thee dear.

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