| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Astrophel and Stella | | LXXVIII. O how the pleasant airs of true love be | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | O HOW the pleasant airs of true love be | |
| Infected by those vapours, which arise | |
| From out that noisome gulf, which gaping lies | |
| Between the jaws of hellish JEALOUSY. | |
| A monster! others’ harm! self’s misery! | 5 |
| BEAUTY’s plague! VIRTUE’s scourge! succour of lies! | |
| Who his own joy to his own hurt applies; | |
| And only cherish doth with injury! | |
| Who since he hath—by Nature’s special grace— | |
| So piercing paws, as spoil when they embrace; | 10 |
| So nimble feet, as stir still though on thorns; | |
| So many eyes, aye seeking their own woe; | |
| So ample ears, that never good news know: | |
| Is it not evil that such a devil wants horns? | | | | |
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