Astrophel and Stella VII: WhenNature Made her Chief Work
by Sir Philip Sidney
When Nature made her chief work, Stella’s eyes,
In colour black why wrapt she beams so bright?
Would she in beamy black, like painter wise,
Frame daintiest lustre, mix’d of shades and light?
Or did she else that sober hue devise,
In object best to knit and strength our sight;
Lest, if no veil these brave gleams did disguise,
They, sunlike, should more dazzle than delight?
Or would she her miraculous power show,
That, whereas black seems beauty’s contrary,
She even in black doth make all beauties flow?
Both so, and thus,–she, minding Love should be
Plac’d ever there, gave him this mourning weed
To honour all their deaths who for her bleed.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Владимир Маяковский – Декрет о натуральном налоге на хлеб, картофель и масличные семена
- The Second Voyage by Rudyard Kipling
- Fleckno, an English Priest at Rome poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Words You Said poem – Andrew Neil Maternick poems | Poems and Poetry
- Epitaph on “Wee Johnnie” by Robert Burns
- Gordon Of Brackley poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Academic Graffiti by W H Auden
- Evolution by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
- The Princess: A Medley: O Swallow poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Finding Your Creative Self
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Л. Е. Ф.
- Николай Карамзин – Раиса (Древняя баллада)
- Владимир Маяковский – Тамара и демон
- Sonnet 02
- The Answer by Sara Teasdale
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.