Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
Astrophel and StellaCIV. Envious wits! what hath been mine offence
Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)E
That with such poisonous care my looks you mark?
That each word, nay sigh of mine you hark,
As grudging me my sorrows’ eloquence?
Ah! is it not enough, that I am thence!
Thence! so far thence! that scarcely any spark
Of comfort dare come to this dungeon dark;
Where rigour’s exile locks up all my sense?
But if I by a happy window pass;
If I but stars upon mine armour bear;
Sick, thirsty, glad (though but of empty glass!)
Your moral notes straight my hid meaning tear
From out my ribs; and puffing prove that I
Do S