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:

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.

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.