| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Astrophel and Stella | | LV. Muses! I oft invoked your holy aid | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | MUSES! I oft invoked your holy aid, | |
| With choicest flowers my speech t’engarland so, | |
| That it, despised in true but naked show, | |
| Might win some grace in your sweet grace arrayed. | |
| And oft whole troops of saddest words I stayed, | 5 |
| Striving abroad a foraging to go; | |
| Until by your inspiring, I might know | |
| How their black banner might be best displayed. | |
| And now I mean no more your help to try, | |
| Nor other sugaring of my speech to prove; | 10 |
| But on her name incessantly to cry. | |
| For let me but name her whom I do love, | |
| So sweet sounds straight mine ear and heart do hit, | |
| That I well find no eloquence like it. | | | | |
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