Sonnet Ii: Not At First Sight

Sir Philip Sidney

Not at first sight, nor with a dribbed shot
Love gave the wound, which while I breathe will bleed;
But known worth did in mine of time proceed,
Till by degrees it had full conquest got:

I saw and liked, I liked but loved not;
I lov'd, but straight did not what Love decreed.
At length to love's decrees I, forc'd, agreed,
Yet with repining at so partial lot.

Now even that footstep of lost liberty
Is gone, and now like slave-born Muscovite
I call it praise to suffer tyranny;

And now employ the remnant of my wit
To make myself believe that all is well,
While with a feeling skill I paint my hell.

Next 10 Poems

• 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
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Lxxxiv: Highway
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet V: It Is Most True
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Vi: Some Lovers Speak
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Vii: When Nature
• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet Viii: Love, Born In Greece

Previous 10 Poems

• Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnet I: Loving In Truth
• Sir Philip Sidney : Song To The Tune Of 'non Credo Gia Che Piu Infelice Amante.'
• Sir Philip Sidney : Song To The Tune Of 'basciami Vita Mia.'
• Sir Philip Sidney : Song From Arcadia
• Sir Philip Sidney : Song
• 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