Song

Sir Philip Sidney

To the tune of “Wilhelmus van Nassau,” &c.


Who hath his fancy pleasèd,
  With fruits of happy sight,
Let here his eyes be raisèd
  On Nature’s sweetest light;
A light which doth dissever,
  And yet unite the eyes;
A light which, dying, never
  Is cause the looker dies.

She never dies, but lasteth
  In life of lover’s heart;
He ever dies that wasteth
  In love his chiefest part.
Thus is her life still guarded,
  In never dying faith;
Thus is his death rewarded,
  Since she lives in his death.

Look then and die, the pleasure
  Doth answer well the pain;
Small loss of mortal treasure,
  Who may immortal gain.
Immortal be her graces,
  Immortal is her mind;
They, fit for heavenly places—
  This heaven in it doth bind.

But eyes these beauties see not,
  Nor sense that grace descries;
Yet eyes deprived be not
  From sight of her fair eyes—
Which, as of inward glory
  They are the outward seal,
So may they live still sorry,
  Which die not in that weal.

But who hath fancies pleasèd,
  With fruits of happy sight,
Let here his eyes be raisèd
  On Nature’s sweetest light.

Next 10 Poems

• Sir Philip Sidney : Song From Arcadia
• Sir Philip Sidney : Song To The Tune Of 'basciami Vita Mia.'
• Sir Philip Sidney : Song To The Tune Of 'non Credo Gia Che Piu Infelice Amante.'
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet I: Loving In Truth
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Ii: Not At First Sight
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Iii: With How Sad Steps
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Iv: Virtue, Alas
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Ix: Queen Virtue's Court
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Lxiv: No More, My Dear
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Lxxi: Who Will In Fairest Book

Previous 10 Poems

• Sir Philip Sidney : Sleep
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sir Philip Sidney's Sonnet In Reply To A Sonnet By Sir Edward Dyer
• Sir Philip Sidney : Since Shunning Pain, I Ease Can Never Find
• Sir Philip Sidney : Ring Out Your Bells
• Sir Philip Sidney : Psalm 19: Coeli Enarrant
• Sir Philip Sidney : Philomela
• Sir Philip Sidney : Ode ( When, To My Deadly Pleasure )
• Sir Philip Sidney : My True Love Hath My Heart, And I Have His
• Sir Philip Sidney : Must Love Lament?
• Sir Philip Sidney : Loving In Truth, And Fain In Verse My Love To Show