Sonnet XVI. Yea, that accursed Deed, before unsealed

Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609)

YEA, that accursed Deed, before unsealed,

Is argument of thy first constancy!

Which if thou hadst to me before revealed;

I had not pleaded in such fervency.

Yet this delights, and makes me triumph much,

That mine Heart, in her body lies imprisoned!

For, ’mongst all bay-crowned conquerors, no such

Can make the slavish captive boast him conquered,

Except PARTHENOPHE; whose fiery gleams

(Like JOVE’s swift lightning raging, which rocks pierceth)

Heating them inly with his sudden beams,

And secret golden mines with melting searseth

Eftsoons with cannon, his dread rage rehearseth;

Yet nought seems scorched, in apparent sight.

So first, She secret burnt; then, did affright!