| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Amoretti and Epithalamion | | Sonnet XV. Ye tradeful Merchants, that, with weary toil | | Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599) |
| | | YE tradeful Merchants, that, with weary toil, | |
| Do seek most precious things to make your gain; | |
| And both the Indias of their treasure spoil; | |
| What needeth you to seek so far in vain? | |
| For lo, my love doth in her self contain | 5 |
| All this world’s riches that may far be found: | |
| If sapphires, lo, her eyes be sapphires plain; | |
| If rubies, lo, her lips be rubies sound; | |
| If pearls, her teeth be pearls, both pure and round; | |
| If ivory, her forehead ivory ween; | 10 |
| If gold, her locks are finest gold on ground; | |
| If silver, her fair hands are silver sheen: | |
| But that which fairest is, but few behold, | |
| Her mind adorned with virtues manifold. | | | | |
|
|
