Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By Henry Constable (1562–1613)To St Margaret
| FAIR Amazon of heaven, who took’st in hand | |
| St Michael and St George to imitate, | |
| And for a tyrant’s love transformed to hate | |
| Wast for thy lily faith retained in band: | |
| Alone on foot and with thy naked hand | 5 |
| Thou didst like Michael and his host, and that | |
| For which on horse arm’d George we celebrate, | |
| Whilst thou like them a dragon didst withstand. | |
| Behold my soul, shut in my body’s jail, | |
| The which the drake of hell gapes to devour! | 10 |
| Teach me, O Virgin, how thou didst prevail! | |
| Virginity, thou say’st, was all thine aid. | |
| Give me then purity instead of power, | |
| And let my soul, maid chaste, pass for a maid. | |