Leave me, O Love

 Leave me, O love which reachest but to dust;
And thou, my mind, aspire to higher things;
Grow rich in that which never taketh rust,
Whatever fades but fading pleasure brings.

Draw in thy beams, and humble all thy might
To that sweet yoke where lasting freedoms be;
Which breaks the clouds and opens forth the light,
That doth both shine and give us sight to see.

O take fast hold;  let that light be thy guide
In this small course which birth draws out to death,
And think how evil becometh him to slide,
Who seeketh heav’n, and comes of heav’nly breath.
    Then farewell, world;  thy uttermost I see;
    Eternal Love, maintain thy life in me.

~Sir Philip Sidney

The first time I read through this problem I assumed the narrator was referring to a past lover. I read through the first stanza as if it were a break up poem all the while thinking “Ooh burn! You tell her Philip!” As I moved onto the next stanza I got confused. In the context of a break up poem nothing in the second stanza sounded like something one would say to an ex-lover. In fact the second stanza seemed to be singing the praise of the subject. Determined however, I moved on to the third paragraph and found it to make less sense than the second. I admit defeat, this poem is not about a break up. With that in mind I reread the poem, this time starting from the last stanza. And that folks is where it all came together for me. Sir Philip Sidney isn’t talking about a lover! He is talking about heaven and God! Duh! His poem is about the earthy things that separate him from God and heaven. The first stanza is a pledge to aspire to “that which never taketh rust”. The second stanza was a singing of praise, praise for heaven! In the final stanza Sidney asked his God to be the light that guides his life and to remind him of the evil of earthly things. He ends his poem with a farewell to the earthly world and pledges to live his life to his Lord: “Eternal Love”. Throughout the course of the poem Sidney chooses one God and heaven over his earthly pursuits feeling that he has lost one love but gained eternal love.