Edmund Spenser


From

AMORETTI



To the Right Worship-
full

S I R  R O B A R T  N E E D -
HAM KNIGHT.

S
 
IR, to gratulate your safe return from Ireland, I had nothing so readie, nor thought any thing so meete, as these sweete conceited Sonets, the deede of that wel deseruing gentleman, maister Edmond Spenser: whose name sufficiently warranting the worthinesse of the work: I do more confidently presume to publish it in his absence, vnder your name to whom (in my poore opinion) the patronage therof, doth in some respectes properly appertaine. For, besides your iudgement and delighte in learned poesie: This gentle Muse for her former perfection long wished for in Englande, nowe at the length crossing the Seas in your happy companye, (though to your selfe vnknowne) seemeth to make choyse of you, as meetest to giue her deserued countenaunce, after her retourne: entertaine her, then, (Right worshipfull) in sorte best beseeming your gentle minde, and her merite, and take in worth my good will herein, who seeke no more, but to shew my selfe yours in all dutifull affection.

    W. P.

 
SONNET. I.
    HAPPY ye leaues when as those lilly hands,
      which hold my life in their dead doing might
      shall handle you and hold in loues soft bands,
      lyke captiues trembling at the victors sight.
    And happy lines, on which with starry light,
      those lamping eyes will deigne sometimes to look
      and reade the sorrowes of my dying spright,
      written with teares in harts close bleeding book.
    And happy rymes bath'd in the sacred brooke,
      of Helicon whence she deriued is,
      when ye behold that Angels blessed looke,
      my soules long lacked foode, my heauens blis.
    Leaues, lines, and rymes, seeke her to please alone,
      whom if ye please, I care for other none.

 
SONNET. XXXVII.
    WHAT guyle is this, that those her golden tresses,
      She doth attyre vnder a net of gold:
      and with sly skill so cunningly them dresses,
      that which is gold or heare, may scarse be told?
    Is it that mens frayle eyes, which gaze too bold,
      she may entangle in that golden snare:
      and being caught may craftily enfold,
      theyr weaker harts, which are not wel aware?
    Take heed therefore, myne eyes, how ye doe stare
      henceforth too rashly on that guilefull net,
      in which if euer ye entrapped are,
      out of her bands ye by no meanes shall get.
    Fondnesse it were for any being free,
      to couet fetters, though they golden bee.

 
SONNET. LXVIII.
    MOST glorious Lord of lyfe that on this day,
      Didst make thy triumph ouer death and sin:
      and hauing harrowd hell didst bring away,
      captiuity thence captiue vs to win.
    This ioyous day, deare Lord, with ioy begin,
      and grant that we for whom thou didest dye
      being with thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
      may liue foreuer in felicity.
    And that thy loue we weighing worthily,
      may likewise loue thee for the same againe:
      and for thy sake that all lyke deare didst buy,
      with loue may one another entertayne.
    So let vs loue, deare loue, lyke as we ought,
      loue is the lesson which the Lord vs taught.

 
SONNET. LXX.
    FRESH spring the herald of loues mighty king,
      In whose cote armour richly are displayd,
      all sorts of flowers the which on earth do spring
      in goodly colours gloriously arrayd.
    Goe to my loue, where she is carelesse layd,
      yet in her winters bowre not well awake:
      tell her the ioyous time wil not be staid
      vnlesse she doe him by the forelock take.
    Bid her therefore her selfe soone ready make,
      to wayt on loue amongst his louely crew:
      where euery one, that misseth then her make,
      shall be by him amearst with penance dew.
    Make hast therefore sweet loue, whilest it is prime,
      for none can call againe the passed time.

 
SONNET. LXXV.
    ONE day I wrote her name vpon the strand,
      but came the waues and washed it away:
      agayne I wrote it with a second hand,
      but came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.
    Vayne man, sayd she, that doest in vaine assay,
      a mortall thing so to immortalize.
      for I my selue shall lyke to this decay,
      and eek my name bee wyped out lykewize.
    Not so, (quod I) let baser things deuize,
      to dy in dust, but you shall liue by fame:
      my verse your vertues rare shall eternize,
      and in the heuens wryte your glorious name.
    Where whenas death shall all the world subdew,
      our loue shall liue, and later life renew.

 
SONNET. LXXIX.
    MEN call you fayre, and you doe credit it,
      For that your selfe ye dayly such doe see:
      but the trew fayre, that is the gentle wit,
      and vertuous mind is much more praysd of me.
    For all the rest, how euer fayre it be,
      shall turne to nought and loose that glorious hew:
      but onely that is permanent and free
      from frayle corruption, that doth flesh ensew.
    That is true beautie: that doth argue you
      to be diuine and borne of heauenly seed:
      deriu'd from that fayre Spirit, from whom all true
      and perfect beauty did at first proceed.
    He only fayre, and what he fayre hath made,
      all other fayre lyke flowres vntymely fade.

FINIS
    1595

Sonnet 1. Sonnet 37. Sonnet 68. Sonnet 70. Sonnet 75. Sonnet 79.