| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Astrophel and Stella | | XXXIV. Come, let me write. “And to what end?” To ease | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | COME, let me write. “And to what end?” To ease | |
| A burthened heart. “How can words ease, which are | |
| The glasses of thy daily vexing care?” | |
| Oft, cruel fights well pictured forth do please. | |
| “Art not ashamed to publish thy disease?” | 5 |
| Nay that may breed my fame. It is so rare. | |
| “But will not wise men think thy words fond ware?” | |
| Then be they close, and so none shall displease. | |
| “What idler thing, than speak and not be heard?” | |
| What harder thing, than smart and not to speak? | 10 |
| “Peace! foolish wit!” With wit, my wit is marred. | |
| Thus write I, while I doubt to write; and wreak | |
| My harms on ink’s poor loss. Perhaps some find | |
| STELLA’s great powers, that so confuse my mind. | | | | |
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