XC. Stella! think not that I by verse seek fame

Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)

STELLA! think not that I by verse seek fame;

Who seek, who hope, who love, who live but thee.

Thine eyes my pride; thy lips mine history:

If thou praise not, all other praise is shame.

Not so ambitious am I as to frame

A nest for my young praise in laurel tree:

In truth I swear, I wish not there should be

Graved in my epitaph, a Poet’s name.

Ne if I would, I could just title make

That any laud to me thereof should grow,

Without my plumes from others’ wings I take.

For nothing from my wit or will doth flow:

Since all my words, thy beauty doth indite;

And love doth hold my hand and makes me write.