A Sonnet, To His Mother As A New Year's Gift From Cambridge

My God, where is that ancient heat towards thee,
  Wherewith whole shoals of martyrs once did burn,
Besides their other flames? Doth poetry
  Wear Venus' livery? only serve her turn?
Why are not sonnets made of thee? and lays
  Upon thine altar burnt? Cannot thy love
Heighten a spirit to sound out thy praise
  As well as any she? Cannot thy Dove
Outstrip their Cupid easily in flight?
  Or, since thy ways are deep, and still the fame,
  Will not a verse run smooth that bears thy name!
Why doth that fire, which by thy power and might
  Each breast does feel, no braver fuel choose
  Than that, which one day, worms may chance refuse.
Sure, Lord, there is enough in thee to dry
  Oceans of ink; for, as the Deluge did
Cover the earth, so doth thy Majesty:
  Each cloud distills thy praise, and doth forbid
Poets to turn it to another use.
  Roses and lilies speak thee; and to make
A pair of cheeks of them, is thy abuse
  Why should I women's eyes for crystal take?
Such poor invention burns in their low mind
  Whose fire is wild, and doth not upward go
  To praise, and on thee, Lord, some ink bestow.
Open the bones, and you shall nothing find
In the best face but filth; when Lord, in thee
The beauty lies in the discovery.