| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Astrophel and Stella | | XLV. Stella oft sees the very face of woe | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | STELLA oft sees the very face of woe | |
| Painted in my beclouded stormy face; | |
| But cannot skill to pity my disgrace, | |
| Not, though thereof the cause herself she know: | |
| Yet hearing late a fable which did show | 5 |
| Of lovers never known, a piteous case; | |
| Pity thereof gat in her breast such place | |
| That from that sea derived, tears’ spring did flow. | |
| Alas, if Fancy drawn by imaged things, | |
| Though false, yet with free scope more grace doth breed | 10 |
| Than servant’s wrack, where new doubts honour brings; | |
| Then think, my Dear! that you in me do read | |
| Of lovers’ ruin, some sad tragedy. | |
| I am not I, pity the tale of me! | | | | |
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