XI. In Truth, O Love! with what a boyish kind

Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)

IN Truth, O LOVE! with what a boyish kind

Thou dost proceed in thy most serious ways;

That when the heaven to thee his best displays,

Yet of that best, thou leav’st the best behind:

For like a child, that some fair book doth find,

With gilded leaves or coloured vellum plays;

Or, at the most, on some fair picture stays:

But never heeds the fruit of writer’s mind.

So when thou saw’st in Nature’s cabinet,

STELLA: thou straight look’st babies in her eyes;

In her cheek’s pit, thou didst thy pitfold set;

And in her breast, bo-peep or couching lies:

Playing and shining in each outward part.

But, fool! seek’st not to get into her heart!