| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Astrophel and Stella | | CI. Stella is sick, and in that sick bed lies | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | STELLA is sick, and in that sick bed lies | |
| SWEETNESS, which breathes and pants, as oft as she; | |
| And GRACE, sick too, such fine conclusions tries, | |
| That Sickness brags itself best graced to be. | |
| BEAUTY is sick, but sick in such fair guise | 5 |
| That in that paleness BEAUTY’s white we see; | |
| And JOY, which is inseparate from those eyes. | |
| STELLA now learns—strange case!—to weep in thee. | |
| LOVE moves thy pain, and like a faithful page, | |
| As thy looks stir, comes up and down to make | 10 |
| All folks prest at thy will, thy pain to assuage. | |
| Nature with care sweats for her darling’s sake: | |
| Knowing worlds pass ere she enough can find | |
| Of such heaven stuff, to clothe so heavenly a mind. | | | | |
|
|
