Near that stage, if still that exploit provoke,
When I shall see curtain rise o’er critic,
When as thy judge doth appraisal invoke,
Song to that audit with lyric public;
Touching that scene where thou shalt oddly note
And narrowly accost me with unflatter’d view,
For winds, unrequited can sink this boat,
Will purpose find of opinion skew,
Contradicting that which I enact here
In realization of mine humble verse,
And for my part cannot mine own revere,
Thy word that cares not on me expressly terse
I, with a poet’s hand doth seize thine ear;
For write I must until I leave this sphere.