I. Since shunning pain, I ease can never find

Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)

[The following pieces were not printed in the quartos of 1591. They all appeared in the 1598 edition of Sidney’s works. The opening sonnet and seven others, which are duly indicated here, were printed for the first time in Constable’s Diana, 1594.]

SINCE shunning pain, I ease can never find;

Since bashful dread seeks where he knows me harmed;

Since will is won, and stoppèd ears are charmed;

Since force doth faint, and sight doth make me blind;

Since loosing long, the faster still I bind;

Since naked sense can conquer reason armed;

Since heart in chilling fear, with ice is warmed;

In fine, since strife of thought but mars the mind:

I yield, O LOVE! unto thy loathèd yoke.

Yet craving law of arms, whose rule doth teach;

That hardly used, whoever prison broke—

In justice quit—of honour makes no breach:

Whereas if I a grateful Guardian have;

Thou art my lord! and I, thy vowèd slave.

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