Wanton Youth Reproved: Sonnet -

The Siren Venus nourish'd in her lap

Fair Adon, swearing whiles he was a youth

He might be wanton: note his after-hap,

The guerdon that such lawless lust ensu'th;

So long he follow'd flattering Venus lore,

Till, silly lad, he perish'd by a boar.

Mars in his youth did court this lusty dame,

He won her love; what might his fancy let?

He was but young: at last, unto his shame,

Vulcan entrapp'd them slily in a net,

And call'd the gods to witness as a truth,

A lecher's fault was not excus'd by youth.

If crooked age accounteth youth his spring,

The spring, the fairest season of the year,

Enrich'd with flowers, and sweets, and many a thing,

That fair and gorgeous to the eyes appear;

If fits that youth, the spring of man, should be

'Rich'd with such flowers as virtue yieldeth thee.