| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Astrophel and Stella | | XXXV. What may words say, or what may words not say | | Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | | WHAT may words say, or what may words not say; | |
| Where truth itself must speak like flattery? | |
| Within what bounds, can one his liking stay; | |
| Where Nature doth with infinite agree? | |
| What NESTOR’s counsel can my flames allay, | 5 |
| Since REASON’s self doth blow the coal in me? | |
| And ah! what hope that hope should once see day, | |
| Where CUPID is sworn page to CHASTITY? | |
| HONOUR is honoured, that thou dost possess | |
| Him as thy slave; and now long needy FAME | 10 |
| Doth even grow rich, naming my STELLA’s name. | |
| WIT learns in thee perfection to express; | |
| Not thou by praise, but PRAISE in thee is raised. | |
| It is a praise to praise, where thou art praised. | | | | |
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