Death & Dying
Hexameters upon the Never-Enough Praised Sir Philip Sidney
From A Poetical Rhapsody (1602), ed. A. H. Bullen (1890–91)
What can I now suspect, or what can I fear any longer?
Oft did I fear, oft hope, whilst life in Sidney remained:
Of nothing can I now despair, for nought can I hope for:
This good is in misery, when great extremity grieves us,
That neither hope of good, nor fear of worse can affright us.
And can I then complain, when no complaint can avail me?
How can I seem to be discontent, or what can I weep for?
He lives eternal, with endless glory bedecked:
Yea, still on earth he lives, and still shall live by the Muses.
Codex Note
Credited to "A. W." in Francis Davison's own manuscript list (Bullen prints the initials in square brackets).
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Elizabethan miscellanies). “Hexameters upon the Never-Enough Praised Sir Philip Sidney.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-miscellanies/104/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Elizabethan miscellanies). “Hexameters upon the Never-Enough Praised Sir Philip Sidney.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-elizabethan-miscellanies/104/.
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