Astrophel And Stella-Sonnet LIV by Sir Philip Sidney
Astrophel And Stella-Sonnet LIV
by Sir Philip Sidney
Because I breathe not love to every one, Nor do not use set colours for to wear, Nor nourish special locks of vowed hair, Nor give each speech a full point of a groan, The courtly nymphs, acquainted with the moan Of them who in their lips Love’s standard bear, “What, he!” say they of me, “now I dare swear He cannot love. No, no, let him alone.”— And think so still, so Stella know my mind! Profess indeed I do not Cupid’s art; But you, fair maids, at length this true shall find, That his right badge is worn but in the heart. Dumb swans, not chattering pies, do lovers prove: They love indeed who quake to say they love.
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) was an English courtier, statesman, soldier, diplomat, writer, and patron of scholars and poets. He was a godson of Philip II of Spain. Sir Philip Sidney was considered the ideal gentleman of his day. He is also one of the most important poets of the Elizabethan Era.
