| Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | | | Idea | | Sonnet 43. Why should your fair eyes, with such sovereign grace | | Michael Drayton (1563–1631) |
| | [First printed in 1605 (No. 43), and in all later editions.] |
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WHY should your fair eyes, with such sovereign grace, | |
| Disperse their rays on every vulgar spirit, | |
| Whilst I in darkness, in the self-same place, | |
| Get not one glance to recompense my merit? | |
| So doth the plowman gaze the wandering star, | 5 |
| And only rest contented with the light; | |
| That never learned what constellations are, | |
| Beyond the bent of his unknowing sight. | |
| O why should Beauty (custom to obey), | |
| To their gross sense apply herself so ill! | 10 |
| Would God! I were as ignorant as they! | |
| When I am made unhappy by my skill! | |
| Only compelled on this poor good to boast, | |
| Heavens are not kind to them, that know them most! | | | |
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