| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Sonnets and Poetical Translations | | XXXIV. Leave me, O love! which reachest but to dust! | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | LEAVE me, O love! which reachest but to dust! | |
| And thou, my mind! aspire to higher things! | |
| Grow rich in that, which never taketh rust! | |
| Whatever fades, but fading pleasure brings. | |
| Draw in thy beams, and humble all thy might | 5 |
| To that sweet yoke, where lasting freedoms be! | |
| Which breaks the clouds, and opens forth the light | |
| That doth both shine, and give us sight to see. | |
| O take fast hold! Let that light be thy guide! | |
| In this small course which birth draws out to death: | 10 |
| And think how evil becometh him to slide, | |
| Who seeketh heaven, and comes of heavenly breath! | |
| Then farewell, world! Thy uttermost I see! | |
Eternal Love, maintain Thy love in me!
Splendidis longum valedico nugis. | | | | |
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