Sonnet XXXIX: Some, When in Rhyme

Some, when in rhyme they of their loves do tell,

With flames and lightnings their exordiums paint;

Some call on Heav'n, some invocate on Hell,

And Fates and Furies with their woes acquaint.

Elysium is too high a seat for me;

I will not come in Styx or Phlegethon;

The thrice-three Muses but too wanton be;

Like they that lust, I care not; I will none.

Spiteful Erinnys frights me with her looks;

My manhood dares not with foul Ate mell;

I quake to look on Hecate's charming books;

I still fear bugbears in Apollo's cell.

I pass not for Minerva nor Astraea;

Only I call on my divine Idea.