Sonnet XXV. To hear the impost of a faith not feigning

Samuel Daniel (1562–1619)

TO hear the impost of a faith not feigning,

That duty pays, and her disdain extorteth:

These bear the message of my woeful paining,

These olive branches mercy still exhorteth.

These tributary plaints with chaste desires,

I send those eyes, the cabinets of love;

The paradise whereto my soul aspires,

From out this hell, which my afflictions prove:

Wherein, poor soul! I live exiled from mirth,

Pensive alone, none but despair about me.

My joys’ liberties perished in their birth,

My cares long lived, and will not die without me.

What shall I do, but sigh and wail the while;

My martyrdom exceeds the highest style.