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Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  »  Sonnet XLVIII. I wish no rich refined Arabian gold!

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Parthenophil and Parthenophe

Sonnet XLVIII. I wish no rich refined Arabian gold!

Barnabe Barnes (1569?–1609)

I WISH no rich refined Arabian gold!

Nor orient Indian pearl, rare Nature’s wonder!

No diamonds, th’ Egyptian surges under!

No rubies of America, dear sold!

Nor saphires, which rich Afric sands enfold!

(Treasures far distant, from this isle asunder)

Barbarian ivories, in contempt I hold!

But only this; this only, VENUS, grant!

That I, my sweet PARTHENOPHE may get!

Her hairs, no grace of golden wires want;

Pure pearls, with perfect rubines are inset;

True diamonds, in eyes; saphires, in veins:

Nor can I, that soft ivory skin forget!

England, in one small subject, such contains!