Astrophil and Stella
Sonnet 86
Alas, whence came this change of looks? If I
Have changed desert, let mine own conscience be
A still-felt plague to self-condemning me;
Let woe gripe on my heart, shame load mine eye:
But if all faith, like spotless ermine, lie
Safe in my soul, which only doth to thee,
As his sole object of felicity,
With wings of love in air of wonder fly,
O ease your hand, treat not so hard your slave;
In justice pains come not till faults do call:
Or if I needs, sweet judge, must torments have,
Use something else to chasten me withal
Then those blessed eyes, where all my hopes do dwell:
No doom should make ones heaven become his hell.
Sir Philip Sidney
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