Amoretti: Sonnet 26

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Title:     Amoretti: Sonnet 26
Author: Edmund Spenser [More Titles by Spenser]

Sweet is the rose, but growes upon a brere;
Sweet is the iunipeer; but sharpe his bough;
Sweet is the eglantine, but pricketh nere;
Sweet is the firbloome, but his braunches rough*;
Sweet is the cypresse, but his rynd is rough;
Sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill**;
Sweet is the broome-flowre, but yet sowre enough;
And sweet is moly, but his root is ill.
So every sweet with soure is tempred still,
That maketh it be coveted the more:
For easie things, that may be got at will,
Most sorts of men doe set but little store.
Why then should I accompt of little paine,
That endlesse pleasure shall unto me gaine!

[* I.e. raw, crude.]
[** _Pill_, peel.]

[The end]
Edmund Spenser's poem: Amoretti: Sonnet 26

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