Sir Philip Sidney, Not at first sight (1591)
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Text
Not at first sight, nor with a dribbed shot
Love gave the wound, which while I breathe will bleed;
But known worth did in mine of time proceed,
Till by degrees it had full conquest got:
- I saw and liked, I liked but loved not;
I lov'd, but straight did not what Love decreed.
At length to love's decrees I, forc'd, agreed,
Yet with repining at so partial lot.
- Now even that footstep of lost liberty
Is gone, and now like slave-born Muscovite
I call it praise to suffer tyranny;
- And now employ the remnant of my wit
To make myself believe that all is well,
While with a feeling skill I paint my hell.
First Edition
Sir Philip Sidney. "Loving in Truth." Astrophel and Stella. London: Thomas Newman, 1591.