Astrophil and Stella
Sonnet 11

In truth, O Love, with what a boyish kind
   Thou dost proceed in thy most serious ways,
   That when the heaven to thee his best displays,
Yet of that best thou leav'st the best behind.
For, like a child that some fair book doth find,
   With gilded leaves or coloured vellum plays,
   Or, at the most, on some fine picture stays,
But never heeds the fruit of writer's mind;
   So when thou saw'st, in nature's cabinet,
Stella, thou straight look'st babies in her eyes:
In her cheek's pit thou did'st thy pit-fold set,
And in her breast bo-peep or crouching lies,
   Playing and shining in each outward part;
   But, fool, seek'st not to get into her heart. 


Sir Philip Sidney

Back to Sonnet 10
Forward to Sonnet 12