Sonnet 25

1 Let those who are in favour with their stars,
2 Of public honour and proud titles boast,
3 Whilst I whom fortune of such triumph bars
4 Unlooked for joy in that I honour most;
5 Great princes’ favourites their fair leaves spread,
6 But as the marigold at the sun’s eye,
7 And in themselves their pride lies buried,
8 For at a frown they in their glory die.
9 The painful warrior famoused for fight,
10 After a thousand victories once foiled,
11 Is from the book of honour razed quite,
12 And all the rest forgot for which he toiled:
13 Then happy I that love and am beloved
14 Where I may not remove nor be removed.