Delia 46: Let others sing of knights and paladins

Let others sing of knights and paladinsIn aged accents and untimely words;Paint shadows in imaginary linesWhich well the reach of their high wits records:But I must sing of thee, and those fair eyesAuthentic shall my verse in time to come,When yet th' unborn shall say, “Lo where she liesWhose beauty made him speak that else was dumb.”These are the arks, the trophies I erect,That fortify thy name against old age;And these thy sacred virtues must protectAgainst the dark, and time's consuming rage.Though th' error of my youth they shall discover,Suffice they show I liv'd and was thy lover.