poems dedicated to Elizabeth I

She beauty is; by her the fair endure.
Time wears her not: she doth his chariot guide;
Mortality below her orb is plac'd;
By her the virtue of the stars down slide;
In her is virtue's perfect image cast.
From 'Prais'd be Diana's Fair and Harmless Light', by Sir Walter Ralegh (1554–1618)

'To the Queen' is just 18 lines long and is thought to have been written as an epilogue for one of his plays and was read in the presence of Queen Elizabeth I in 1599.
American scholars William Ringler and Steven May found the poem while searching through manuscript collections of court poetry.
Entitled in the manuscript 'To the queen by the players', the epilogue was written for the occasion of a performance at Richmond Palace in the presence of Queen Elizabeth on Shrove Tuesday, February 20th 1599.
A spokesperson for the Royal Shakespeare Company said the poem - which may well have been spoken by Shakespeare himself - is written in the same style as the epilogue to A Midsummer Night's Dream.
"In its command of language and rhythm, it has the utter assurance that is unique to the mature Shakespeare. Though only eighteen lines long, it's a precious addition to the canon," she said.

'To the Queen'

As the dial hand tells o'er
The same hours it had before,
Still beginning in the ending,
Circular account still lending,
So, most mighty Queen we pray,
Like the dial day by day
You may lead the sessions on,
That the babe which now is young
And hath yet no use of tongue
Many a Shrovetide here may bow
To that empress I do now,
That the children of these lords,
Sitting at your council boards,
May be grave and aged seen
Of her that was their fathers' queen
Once I wish this wish again,
Heaven subscribe it with
'Amen'