Sonnet 3

THE soverayne beauty which I doo admyre1,

Witnesse the world how worthy to be prayzed:

The light wherof hath kindled heavenly fyre,

In my fraile spirit, by her from basenesse raysed.

That being now with her huge brightnesse dazed2,

Base thing I can no more endure to view:

But looking still on her, I stand amazed,

At wondrous sight of so celestiall hew3.

So when my toung would speak her praises dew4,

It stoppéd as with thoughts astonishment:

And when my pen would write her titles5 true,

It ravisht is with fancies6 wonderment.

Yet in my hart I then both speake and write,

The wonder that my wit cannot endite7.

注释：1.admyre：admire 和wonder at 都从拉丁文admiror（赞美者，敬慕者；情人）演变而来。

2.dazed：使人眼花缭乱的。

3.hew：画像，塑像；人影，人形；人物。

4.her praises dew：这里指她应得的赞美。

5.titles：正确记述的名字。

6.fancies：指我们的想象力。有人怀疑它不可靠，因为想象力有误导理智的能力。

7.endite：表达，或更确切地说是口授。