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Representative Poetry Online, edition 6.0, is a web anthology of 4,800 poems in English and French by over 700 poets spanning 1400 years.  more about RPO

 

 

 

 

Astrophel and Stella XX

Sidney, Sir Philip (1554 - 1586)
1Fly, fly, my friends, I have my death wound, fly!
2See there that boy, that murd'ring boy, I say,
3Who, like a thief, hid in dark bush doth lie
4Till bloody bullet get him wrongful prey.
5So tyrant he no fitter place could spy,
6Nor so fair level in so secret stay,
7As that sweet black which veils the heav'nly eye;
8There himself with his shot he close doth lay.
9Poor passenger, pass now thereby I did,
10And stay'd, pleas'd with the prospect of the place,
11While that black hue from me the bad guest hid;
12But straight I saw motions of lightning grace
13And then descried the glist'ring of his dart:
14But ere I could fly thence it pierc'd my heart.

Notes

2] boy: Cupid. Back to Line
6] so fair level: so well take aim. Back to Line
 What thou lovest well remains,
                  the rest is dross
What thou lov'st well shall not be reft from thee
What thou lov'st well is thy true heritage
Whose world, or mine or theirs
                or is it of none?
First came the seen, then thus the palpable
    Elysium, though it were in the halls of hell,
What thou lovest well is thy true heritage
What thou lov'st well shall not be reft from thee
Ezra Pound Pisan Cantos, LXXXI
Maps