Astrophel and Stella: LXXI
by Sir Philip Sidney
Who will in fairest book of nature know
How virtue may best lodg’d in beauty be,
Let him but learn of love to read in thee,
Stella, those fair lines which true goodness show.
There shall he find all vices’ overthrow,
Not by rude force, but sweetest sovereignty
Of reason, from whose light those night-birds fly;
That inward sun in thine eyes shineth so.
And, not content to be perfection’s heir
Thyself, dost strive all minds that way to move,
Who mark in thee what is in thee most fair.
So while thy beauty draws thy heart to love,
As fast thy virtue bends that love to good:
But “Ah,” Desire still cries, “Give me some food!”
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Light by Tala Bar
- Memoriam
- Outsong in the Jungle by Rudyard Kipling
- To Morrow
- Mally’s meek, Mally’s sweet (Song) by Robert Burns
- Sweet Stay-at-Home by William Henry Davies
- Braga by Walid Saba
- An ode to you by Tanisha Avarsekar
- A Hermit Thrush poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Константин Бальмонт – Можно жить с закрытыми глазами
- The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan by Shel Silverstein
- Алексей Жемчужников – Зимнее чувство
- The Redbreast Chasing The Butterfly by William Wordsworth
- Dead Orchard by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Olney Hymn 27: Welcome To The Table by William Cowper
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) was an English courtier, statesman, soldier, diplomat, writer, and patron of scholars and poets. He was a godson of Philip II of Spain. Sir Philip Sidney was considered the ideal gentleman of his day. He is also one of the most important poets of the Elizabethan Era.