| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Astrophel and Stella | | CIV. Envious wits! what hath been mine offence | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | ENVIOUS wits! what hath been mine offence, | |
| 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! | 5 |
| 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; | 10 |
| 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 STELLA love. Fools! who doth it deny? | | | | |
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