Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO SIR PHILIP SIDNEY'S SOUL by HENRY CONSTABLE

Poem Explanation

First Line: GIVE PARDON, BLESSED SOUL, TO MY BOLD CRIES
Last Line: AND NOW BEGIN TO WEEP WHEN THEY HAVE DONE.
Subject(s): SIDNEY, SIR PHILIP (1554-1586);

GIVE pardon, blessed soul, to my bold cries,
If they, importune, interrupt thy song,
Which now with joyful notes thou sing'st among
The angel-quiristers of th' heavenly skies.
Give pardon eke, sweet soul, to my slow eyes,
That since I saw thee now it is so long,
And yet the tears that unto thee belong
To thee as yet they did not sacrifice.
I did not know that thou wert dead before;
I did not feel the grief I did sustain;
The greater stroke astonisheth the more;
Astonishment takes from us sense of pain;
I stood amazed when others' tears begun,
And now begin to weep when they have done.





Home: PoetryExplorer.net