Astrophil and Stella — Sonnet XX
Astrophil and Stella — Sonnet XX
Sir Philip Sidney
Fly, fly, my friends; I haue my deaths wound, fly;
See there that Boy, that murthring Boy I say,
Who like a theefe hid in dark bush doth ly,
Till bloudy bullet get him wrongfull pray.
So, tyran he no fitter place could spie,
Nor so faire leuell in so secret stay,
As that sweet black which veils the heau'nly eye;
There with his shot himself he close doth lay.
Poore passenger, pass now thereby I did,
And staid, pleas'd with the prospect of the place,
While that black hue from me the the bad guest hid:
But straight I saw the motions of lightning grace,
And then descried the glistrings of his dart:
But ere I could flie thence, it pierc'd my heart.
Verse breaks and indentation are preserved. Wrapped lines have a hanging indent. Width adapts to your screen.
108 sonnets and 11 songs. Source: Renascence Editions public-domain transcription. Two supplementary sonnets printed after CVIII are outside the sequence.
Read the original source ↗
