Astrophil and Stella
Sonnet 90
Stella, think not that I by verse seek fame,
Who seek, who hope, who love, who live but thee;
Thine eyes my pride, thy lips mine history:
If thou praise not, all other praise is shame.
Nor so ambitious am I, as to frame
A nest for my young praise in laurel tree:
In truth, I swear I wish not there should be
Graved in my epitaph a poet's name.
Nay, if I would, could I just title make,
That any laud thereof to me should grow,
Without my plumes from others wings I take:
For nothing from my wit or will doth flow,
Since all my words thy beauty doth endite,
And love doth hold my hand, and makes me write.
Sir Philip Sidney
Back to Sonnet 89
Forward to Sonnet 91