| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Amoretti and Epithalamion | | Sonnet LV. So oft as I her beauty do behold | | Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599) |
| | | SO oft as I her beauty do behold, | |
| And therewith do her cruelty compare, | |
| I marvel of what substance was the mould, | |
| The which her made at once so cruel fair. | |
| Not earth; for her high thoughts more heavenly are: | 5 |
| Not water; for her love doth burn like fire: | |
| Not air; for she is not so light or rare: | |
| Not fire; for she doth freeze with faint desire. | |
| Then needs another element inquire | |
| Whereof she mote be made, that is, the sky. | 10 |
| For to the heaven her haughty looks aspire: | |
| And eke her mind is pure immortal high. | |
| Then, sith to heaven ye likened are the best, | |
| Be like in mercy as in all the rest. | | | | |
|
|
