Edmund Spenser


Amoretti 84. The world, that cannot deeme of worthy things


The world, that cannot deeme of worthy things,
When I doe praise her, say I doe but flatter:
So does the cuckow, when the mavis* sings,
Begin his witlesse note apace to clatter.
But they, that skill not of so heavenly matter,
All that they know not, envy or admyre;
Rather then envy, let them wonder at her,
But not to deeme of her desert aspyre.
Deepe in the closet of my parts entyre**,
Her worth is written with a golden quill,
That me with heavenly fury doth inspire,
And my glad mouth with her sweet prayses fill:
  Which when as Fame in her shril trump shall thunder,
  Let the world chuse to envy or to wonder.

[* Mavis, song-thrush.]
[** Entyre, inward.] 






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