Love
Diana: Fifth Decade, Sonnet 5
From Elizabethan Sonnet-Cycles, ed. M. F. Crow (1896)
His shadow to Narcissus well presented,
How fair he was by such attractive love!
So if thou would'st thyself thy beauty prove,
Vulgar breath-mirrors might have well contented,
And to their prayers eternally consented,
Oaths, vows and sighs, if they believe might move;
But more thou forc'st, making my pen approve
Thy praise to all, least any had dissented.
When this hath wrought, thou which before wert known
But unto some, of all art now required,
And thine eyes' wonders wronged, because not shown
The world, with daily orisons desired.
Thy chaste fair gifts, with learning's breath is blown,
And thus my pen hath made thy sweets admired.
Cite this poem
MLA
Constable, Henry. “Diana: Fifth Decade, Sonnet 5.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/constable/38/.
Chicago
Constable, Henry. “Diana: Fifth Decade, Sonnet 5.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/constable/38/.
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