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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  110. On the Death of Sir Philip Sidney

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Henry Constable. 1562?–1613?

110. On the Death of Sir Philip Sidney

GIVE pardon, blessèd soul, to my bold cries, 
If they, importune, interrupt thy song, 
Which now with joyful notes thou sing’st among 
The angel-quiristers of th’ heavenly skies. 
Give pardon eke, sweet soul, to my slow eyes,         5
That since I saw thee now it is so long, 
And yet the tears that unto thee belong 
To thee as yet they did not sacrifice. 
I did not know that thou wert dead before; 
I did not feel the grief I did sustain;  10
The greater stroke astonisheth the more; 
Astonishment takes from us sense of pain; 
  I stood amazed when others’ tears begun, 
  And now begin to weep when they have done.