| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Astrophel and Stella | | III. Let dainty wits cry on the Sisters nine | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | LET dainty wits cry on the Sisters nine, | |
| That bravely maskt, their fancies may be told; | |
| Or PINDAR’s apes flaunt they in phrases fine, | |
| Enamelling with pied flowers their thoughts of gold; | |
| Or else let them in statelier glory shine, | 5 |
| Ennobling new-found tropes with problems old; | |
| Or with strange similes enrich each line, | |
| Of herbs or beasts which Inde or Afric hold: | |
| For me, in sooth, no Muse but one I know. | |
| Phrases and problems from my reach do grow, | 10 |
| And strange things cost too dear for my poor sprites. | |
| How then? Even thus. In STELLA’s face I read | |
| What love and beauty be. Then all my deed | |
| But copying is, what in her Nature writes. | | | | |
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