Sir Philip Sidney. "You that with allegory's curious frame." Sonnet 28 from "Astrophil and Stella."

Sir Philip Sidney.

Astrophel and Stella

Sonnet XXVIII

You that with allegory's curious frame
    Of others' children changelings use to make,
    With me those pains, for God's sake, do not take;
    I list not dig so deep for brazen fame.
When I say Stella, I do mean the same
    Princess of beauty for whose only sake
    The reins of love I love, though never slake,
    And joy therein, though nations count it shame.
I beg no subject to use eloquence,
    Nor in hid ways do guide philosophy;
    Look at my hands for no such quintessence,
But know that I in pure simplicity
    Breathe out the flames which burn within my heart,
    Love only reading unto me this art.

Source:
Poetry of the English Renaissance 1509-1660.
J. William Hebel and Hoyt H. Hudson, Eds.
New York: F. S. Crofts & Co., 1941. 110.

to Works of Sir Philip Sidney