Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904.

Astrophel and Stella

XXXVII. My mouth doth water, and my breast doth swell

Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)

[This Sonnet was first printed in the 1598 folio edition, appended to Sidney’s Arcadia.]

MY mouth doth water, and my breast doth swell,

My tongue doth itch, my thoughts in labour be:

Listen then Lordings with good ear to me!

For of my life I must a riddle tell.

Towards AURORA’s Court, a nymph doth dwell

Rich in all beauties which man’s eye can see:

Beauties so far from reach of words, that we

Abuse her praise saying she doth excel.

Rich in the treasure of deserved renown.

Rich in the riches of a royal heart.

Rich in those gifts, which give th’eternal crown:

Who, though most rich in these and every part,

Which make the patents of true worldly bliss;

Hath no misfortune, but that RICH she is.