Sonnet 3: Let Dainty Wits

    Let dainty wits cry on the sisters nine,

    That, bravely mask'd, their fancies may be told;

    Or, Pindar's apes, flaunt they in phrases fine,

    Enam'ling with pied flowers their thoughts of gold.

    Or else let them in statelier glory shine,

    Ennobling newfound tropes with problems old;

    Or with strange similes enrich each line,

    Of herbs or beasts which Ind or Afric hold.

    For me, in sooth, no Muse but one I know;

  Phrases and problems from my reach do grow,

  And strange things cost too dear for my poor sprites.

  How then? even thus: in Stella's face I read

  What love and beauty be; then all my deed

  But copying is, what in her Nature writes.

NOTESForm: sonnet: ababababccdeed1. sisters nine: the Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who presided over the various kinds of poetry and other arts.3.Pindar's apes, flaunt they: as imitators of the Greek poet Pindar, let them proudly show off.