Sir Philip Sidney. Psalm 1.

THE PSALMS OF DAVID
By Sir Philip Sidney

PSALM I.

beatus vir.

I. HE blessed is who neither loosely treads
    The straying stepps as wicked counsaile leades;
        Ne for badd mates in waie of sinning wayteth,
        Nor yet himself with idle scorners seateth;
    But on God's lawe his harte's delight doth binde,
    Which, night and daie, he calls to marking minde.

2. He shall be lyke a freshly planted tree,
    To which sweet springs of waters neighbours be;
        Whose braunches faile not timelie fruite to nourish,
        Nor with'red leafe shall make it faile to flourish:
    So all the things whereto that man doth bend
    Shall prosper still with well-succeeding end.

3. Such blessings shall not wycked wretches see,
    But lyke vyle chaffe with wind shal scattred be;
        For neither shall the men in sin delighted
        Consist, when they to highest doome are cited,
    Ne yet shall suff'red be a place to take             [stand
    Where godly men do their assembly make.

4. For God doth know, and knowing doth approue,
    The trade of them that iust proceedings loue ;
        But they that sinne in sinnfull breast do cherish,
        The way they go shalbe their waie to perish.

Text source:
Sidney, Philip. The Complete Poems of Sir Philip Sidney. vol. III.
Alexander B. Grosart, Ed. London: Chatto & Windus, 1877. 81-2.

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