Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.
Astrophel and StellaLV. Muses! I oft invoked your holy aid
Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)M
With choicest flowers my speech t’engarland so,
That it, despised in true but naked show,
Might win some grace in your sweet grace arrayed.
And oft whole troops of saddest words I stayed,
Striving abroad a foraging to go;
Until by your inspiring, I might know
How their black banner might be best displayed.
And now I mean no more your help to try,
Nor other sugaring of my speech to prove;
But on her name incessantly to cry.
For let me but name her whom I do love,
So sweet sounds straight mine ear and heart do hit,
That I well find no eloquence like it.