RPO -- Sir Philip Sidney : Astrophel and Stella: 39

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)

Astrophel and Stella: 39

1Come sleepe, O sleepe, the certaine knot of peace,

2The baiting place of wit, the balme of woe,

3The poore mans wealth, the prisoners release,

4Th'indifferent Iudge betweene the high and low;

5With shield of proofe shield me from out the prease

6Of those fierce darts, dispaire at me doth throw,

7O make me in those civill warres to cease;

8I will good tribute pay if thou do so.

9Take thou of me smooth pillowes, sweetest bed,

10A chamber deafe to noise, and blind to light:

11A rosie garland, and a wearie hed:

12And if these things, as being thine by right,

13Moue not thy heauy grace, thou shalt in me

14Liuelier then else-where Stellas image see.

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Notes

2] baiting place: a place on a journey where refreshment is taken (and the horses fed)

5] prease: press, possibly here meaning the thick of the fight or, in this case, the concentration of darts

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia written by Sir Philip Sidney, Knight. Now the third time published with sundry new additions of the same author. Edinburgh: Printed by Robert Walde-graue, 1599. STC 22542.
First publication date: 1591
RPO poem editor: Marc R. Plamondon
RP edition: 2007
Recent editing: 2:2007/9/30

Composition date: 1581 - 1583
Form: sonnet

Other poems by Sir Philip Sidney