Sonnet 25. O, why should Nature niggardly restrain

Michael Drayton (1563–1631)

[First printed in 1599 (No. 25), and in all later editions.]

O, WHY should Nature niggardly restrain,

That foreign nations relish not our tongue?

Else should my Lines glide on the waves of Rhine,

And crown the Pyren’s with my living Song.

But bounded thus, to Scotland get you forth!

Thence take you wing unto the Orcades!

There let my Verse get glory in the north,

Making my sighs to thaw the frozen seas.

And let the Bards within that Irish isle,

To whom my Muse with fiery wings shall pass,

Call back the stiff-necked rebels from exile,

And mollify the slaughtering Gallowglass!

And when my flowing Numbers they rehearse,

Let wolves and bears be charmèd with my Verse!