| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Amoretti and Epithalamion | | Sonnet XXVI. Sweet is the rose, but grows upon a briar | | Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599) |
| | | SWEET is the rose, but grows upon a briar; | |
| Sweet is the juniper, but sharp his bough; | |
| Sweet is the eglantine, but pricketh near; | |
| Sweet is the fir-bloom, but his branch rough; | |
| Sweet is the cypress, but his rind is tough; | 5 |
| Sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill; | |
| Sweet is the broom-flower, but yet sour enough; | |
| And sweet is moly, but his root is ill. | |
| So every sweet with sour is tempered still, | |
| That maketh it be coveted the more: | 10 |
| For easy things, that may be got at will, | |
| Most sorts of men do set but little store. | |
| Why then should I account of little pain, | |
| That endless pleasure shall unto me gain! | | | | |
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