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Home  »  Elizabethan Sonnets  »  XXXVII. My mouth doth water, and my breast doth swell

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Astrophel and Stella

XXXVII. My mouth doth water, and my breast doth swell

Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)

  • [This Sonnet was first printed in the 1598 folio edition, appended to Sidney’s Arcadia.]


  • MY mouth doth water, and my breast doth swell,

    My tongue doth itch, my thoughts in labour be:

    Listen then Lordings with good ear to me!

    For of my life I must a riddle tell.

    Towards AURORA’s Court, a nymph doth dwell

    Rich in all beauties which man’s eye can see:

    Beauties so far from reach of words, that we

    Abuse her praise saying she doth excel.

    Rich in the treasure of deserved renown.

    Rich in the riches of a royal heart.

    Rich in those gifts, which give th’eternal crown:

    Who, though most rich in these and every part,

    Which make the patents of true worldly bliss;

    Hath no misfortune, but that RICH she is.