Poem by Robert Sidney

Sonnet 7. The hardly captain, unused to retire

The hardly captain, unused to retire,
Turns and returns to the too-well-kept place
Where wound to wound, disgrace upon disgrace
He takes, while will and power ’gainst him conspire:

Scorn of repulse, of loss the stinging fire
His heart with grief doth fill, with shame his face;
But no force finding way, with heavy pace
Forsake he doth his ill-blest fair desire.

With equal care, but with an end more high,
I sought to win the kingdom seat of love,
Beauty’s best treasure, praise of victory:
But scorned, repulsed, heartbroken I remove,

Reaping loss for desert, for love contempt,
And grief and shame for so dear foiled attempt.

1. Sonnet 15. You that haue power to kil, haue will to saue
2. Sonnet 8. If that her worth I could as well forget
3. Sonnet 11. Though the most perfect style cannot attain
4. Sonnet 12. Who gives himself, may ill his words deny
5. Sonnet 10. She whom I serve to write did not despise

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