Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Fidessa

Sonnet XLII. When never-speaking silence proves a wonder

Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602)

WHEN never-speaking silence proves a wonder;

When ever-flying flame at home remaineth;

When all-concealing night keeps darkness under;

When men-devouring wrong true glory gaineth,

When soul-tormenting grief agrees with joy;

When LUCIFER foreruns the baleful night;

When VENUS doth forsake her little boy;

When her untoward boy obtaineth sight;

When SYSIPHUS doth cease to roll his stone;

When OTHES shaketh off his heavy chain;

When Beauty, Queen of Pleasure is alone;

When Love and Virtue, quiet peace disdain:

When these shall be, and I not be;

Then will FIDESSA pity me.