| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Astrophel and Stella | | XXVII. Because I oft in dark abstracted guise | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | BECAUSE I oft in dark abstracted guise, | |
| Seem most alone in greatest company; | |
| With dearth of words, or answers quite awry, | |
| To them that would make speech of speech arise. | |
| They deem, and of their doom the rumour flies, | 5 |
| That poison foul of bubbling pride doth lie | |
| So in my swelling breast; that only I | |
| Fawn on me self, and others do despise. | |
| Yet pride, I think, doth not my soul possess, | |
| Which looks too oft in his unflattering glass: | 10 |
| But one worse fault, ambition, I confess, | |
| That makes me oft my best friends overpass | |
| Unseen, unheard; while thought to highest place | |
| Bends all his powers, even to STELLA’s grace. | | | | |
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