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Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  »  XXXII. Morpheus! the lively son of deadly Sleep

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Astrophel and Stella

XXXII. Morpheus! the lively son of deadly Sleep

Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)

MORPHEUS! the lively son of deadly SLEEP,

Witness of life to them that living die.

A prophet oft, and oft an history,

A poet eke; as humours fly and creep:

Since thou in me so sure a power dost keep,

That never I with close up sense do lie,

But by thy work, my STELLA I descry;

Teaching blind eyes both how to smile and weep.

Vouchsafe of all acquaintance this to tell!

Whence hast thou ivory, rubies, pearl and gold,

To show her skin, lips, teeth and head so well?

“Fool!” answers he, “no Indes such treasures hold;

But from thy heart, while my sire charmeth thee,

Sweet STELLA’s image I do steal to me.”