Sir Philip Sidney. "Let dainty wits cry on the sisters nine." Sonnet 3 from "Astrophil and Stella."

Sir Philip Sidney.

Astrophel and Stella

Sonnet III

Let dainty wits cry on the sisters nine,
    That, bravely masked, their fancies may be told;
    Or Pindar's apes flaunt they in phrases fine,
    Enam'ling with pied flowers their thoughts of gold;
Or else let them in statelier glory shine,
    Ennobling new-found tropes with problems old;
    Or with strange similes enrich each line,
    Of herbs or beasts with Ind or Afric hold.
For me, in sooth, no Muse but one I know;
    Phrases and problems from my reach do grow,
    And strange things cost too dear for my poor sprites.
How then?  even thus,—in Stella's face I read
    What love and beauty be, then all my deed
    But copying is, what in her Nature writes.

Source:
Poetry of the English Renaissance 1509-1660.
J. William Hebel and Hoyt H. Hudson, Eds.
New York: F. S. Crofts & Co., 1941. 107.

to Works of Sir Philip Sidney