| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Sonnets and Poetical Translations | | XVI. Like as the dove, which, sealed up, doth fly | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | LIKE as the dove, which, sealed up, doth fly; | |
| Is neither free, nor yet to service bound: | |
| But hopes to gain some help by mounting high, | |
| Till want of force do force her fall to ground. | |
| Right so my mind, caught by his guiding eye, | 5 |
| And thence cast off, where his sweet hurt he found, | |
| Hath never leave to live, nor doom to die; | |
| Nor held in evil, nor suffered to be sound. | |
| But with his wings of fancies, up he goes | |
| To high conceits, whose fruits are oft but small; | 10 |
| Till wounded, blind and wearied spirit lose | |
| Both force to fly, and knowledge where to fall. | |
| O happy dove, if she no bondage tried! | |
| More happy I, might I in bondage ’bide! | | | | |
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