Red Roses
From Astrophel and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney
chosen by Jennifer
X.
Reason! in faith, thou art well serv’d, that still
Would’st brabling be with sense and love in me;
I rather wish’d thee climb the muses hill;
Or reach the fruit of nature’s choicest tree;
Or seek heav’ns course, or heav’ns inside to see:
Why shouldst thou toil over thorny soil to till?
Leave sense, and those which senses objects be,
Deal thou with powers of thoughts, leave love to will.
But thou wouldst needs fight, both with love and sense,
With sword of wit, giving wounds of dispraise,
‘Till down-right blows did foil thy cunning fence;
For soon as they struck thee with Stella’s rays,
Reason, thou kneeld’st, and offered’st straight to prove,
By reason good, good reason her to love.
22