Poem: True Love (My True-Love Hath My Heart)

There Never Was A Better Bargain Driven 

True Love (My True-Love Hath My Heart) is by the English poet, soldier, and courtier to Elizabeth I: Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586). Also known as The Bargain, his final revision of the sonnet was published in 1593 in The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. It is included in the Poems for All Seasons Appendix of the Divine Office (1974).


Reading

MY TRUE-LOVE HATH MY HEART by Philip Sidney, 1593 (Public Domain)

My true-love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one for the other given:
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;
There never was a bargain better driven.
His heart in me keeps me and him in one,
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides;
He loves my heart for once it was his own;
I cherish his because in me it bides.
His heart his wound receivèd from my sight;
My heart was wounded with his wounded heart;
For as from me on him his hurt did light,
So still methought in me his hurt did smart:
Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss,
My true love hath my heart and I have his.


Choral setting by Ian Assersohn, performed by the Dorking Camerata