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Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  »  Sonnet XCIII. Begs Love! which whilom was a deity?

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Parthenophil and Parthenophe

Sonnet XCIII. Begs Love! which whilom was a deity?

Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609)

BEGS LOVE! which whilom was a deity?

I list no such proud beggars at my gate!

For alms, he, ’mongst cold Arctic folk doth wait;

And sunburnt Moors, in contrariety:

Yet sweats, nor freezes more! Then is it piety

To be remorseful at his bare estate!

His reach, he racketh at a higher rate.

He joins with proudest in society!

His eyes are blind, forsooth! and men must pity

A naked poor boy, which doth no man harm!

He is not blind! Such beggar boys be witty!

For he marks, hits, and wounds hearts with his arm;

Nor coldest North can stop his naked race;

For where he comes, he warmeth every place!