The Lowest Trees Have Tops
The lowest trees have tops, the ant her gall,
The fly her spleen, the little spark his heat;
The slender hairs cast shadows, though but small,
And bees have stings, although they be not great;
Seas have their source, and so have shallow springs;
And love is love, in beggars and in kings.
Where waters smoothest run, there deepest are the fords:
The dial stirs, yet none perceives it move;
The firmest faith is found in fewest words,
The turtles do not sing, and yet they love;
True hearts have ears, and eyes, no tongues to speak:
They hear, and see, and sign, and then they break.
Commentary
Sir Edward Dyer (1543?-1607) was a friend of Sidney and Spenser. He was also Elizabeth’s ambassador to the Danish court for a while and, according to Ashmole’s Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, an associate of Dr Dee and Edward Kelley, travelling alchemical chancers of their day. (Not that I really know this, but I clicked on the links that might suggest I do).
The poem stands like an oak in a wood. What did he have to sign, I wonder?
— Stephen Martin