The Sonnets and Other Poems (26 page)

O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Dost hold Time’s
fickle glass
²
, his
sickle hour
,
Who hast
by waning grown
³
, and therein show’st
Thy lovers withering as thy sweet self grow’st —
If Nature, sovereign mistress over
wrack
⁵
,
As thou
goest onwards
⁶
, still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
May Time
disgrace
⁸
and wretched
minutes kill
.
Yet fear her, O thou
minion
⁹
of her pleasure:
She may detain, but not still
keep
¹⁰
, her treasure.
Her
audit
¹¹
, though delayed,
answered
must be,
And her
quietus
¹²
is to
render
thee.
     
(                )
¹³
      (                )

In
the old age
¹
black
was not counted
fair
,
Or if it were, it
bore not beauty’s name
²
.
But now is black beauty’s
successive
³
heir
And
beauty slandered with a bastard shame
⁴
:
For since each hand hath
put on
⁵
nature’s power,
Fairing the foul
⁶
with art’s false borrowed face,
Sweet beauty hath no
name
⁷
, no holy bower,
But is
profaned
⁸
, if not lives in disgrace.
Therefore my mistress’ brows are raven black,
Her eyes
so suited
¹⁰
, and they mourners seem
At such who,
not born fair, no beauty lack
¹¹
,
Sland’ring creation with a false esteem
¹²
.
      Yet so they mourn,
becoming of their woe
¹³
,
      That every tongue says beauty should look so.

How oft, when
thou, my music
¹
, music play’st
Upon that blessèd
wood
²
whose motion
sounds
With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently
sway’st
³
The
wiry concord
⁴
that mine ear
confounds
,
Do I envy those
jacks
⁵
that nimble leap
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilst my poor lips, which should
that harvest
⁷
reap,
At the wood’s boldness by thee blushing stand.
To be so tickled, they would change their state
And situation with those dancing
chips
¹⁰
O’er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more blest than living lips.
      Since
saucy
¹³
jacks so happy are in this,
      Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.

Th’expense
¹
of
spirit
in a
waste of shame
Is
lust in action
²
, and till action, lust
Is
perjured
³
, murd’rous, bloody,
full of blame
,
Savage, extreme,
rude
⁴
, cruel, not
to trust
,
Enjoyed no sooner but despisèd
straight
⁵
,
Past reason
⁶
hunted and, no sooner had,
Past reason hated as a swallowed bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad,
Mad in pursuit and in possession so,
Had, having and in quest to have, extreme,
A bliss
in proof
¹¹
and
proved
a very woe,
Before, a joy
proposed
¹²
—
behind
, a
dream
.
      All this the world well knows, yet none knows well
      To shun the heaven that leads men to this
hell
¹⁴
.

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
¹
,
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red,
If snow be white, why then her breasts are
dun
³
,
If hairs be
wires
⁴
, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses
damasked
⁵
, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress
reeks
⁸
.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a
go
¹¹
ddess go:
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
      And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
      As any
she belied with false compare
¹⁴
.

Thou art as
tyrannous
¹
,
so as thou art
,
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel,
For well thou know’st to my
dear
³
doting heart
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.
Yet
in good faith
⁵
some say, that thee behold,
Thy face hath not the power to make love
groan
⁶
.
To say they err I dare not be so bold,
Although I swear it to myself alone.
And to be sure that is not false I swear
A thousand groans
but
¹⁰
thinking on thy face
One on another’s neck
¹¹
do witness bear
Thy black
¹²
is
fairest
in my judgement’s place
.
      In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds,
      And thence
this slander
¹⁴
as I think proceeds.

Thine eyes I love and they, as pitying me,
Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain,
Have put on black and loving mourners be,
Looking with
pretty ruth
⁴
upon my pain.
And truly not the
morning
⁵
sun of heaven
Better
becomes
⁶
the grey cheeks of the east,
Nor that
full star
⁷
that ushers in the even
Doth half that glory to the
sober
⁸
west,
As those two
mourning
⁹
eyes become thy face:
O, let it then as well
beseem
¹⁰
thy heart
To mourn for me, since mourning
doth thee grace
¹¹
,
And
suit thy pity like in every part
¹²
.
      Then will I swear beauty herself is black,
      And all they
foul
¹⁴
that thy complexion lack.

Beshrew
¹
that heart that makes my heart to groan
For that deep
wound
²
it gives my friend and me.
Is’t not enough to torture me alone,
But
slave to slavery
⁴
my sweet’st friend must be?
Me from myself thy cruel
eye
⁵
hath taken,
And
my next self
⁶
thou
harder
hast
engrossed
.
Of
⁷
him, myself and thee, I am
forsaken
,
A torment thrice threefold thus to be
crossed
⁸
.
Prison
⁹
my heart in thy steel bosom’s
ward
,
But then my friend’s heart let my poor heart
bail
¹⁰
,
Whoe’er
keeps
¹¹
me, let my heart be
his
guard:
Thou canst not then use
rigour
¹²
in my jail.
      And yet thou wilt, for I, being
pent
¹³
in thee,
      Perforce am thine and
all that is in me
¹⁴
.

So, now I have confessed that
he
¹
is thine,
And I myself am mortgaged to thy
will
²
,
Myself I’ll forfeit,
so that other mine
³
Thou wilt restore, to be my comfort still:
But thou wilt not, nor he will not be free,
For thou art covetous and he is
kind
⁶
.
He learned but
surety-like to write for me
⁷
Under that
bond
⁸
that him as
fast
doth bind.
The
statute
⁹
of thy beauty thou wilt take,
Thou
usurer
¹⁰
, that
put’st forth all to use
,
And
sue
¹¹
a friend
came debtor
for my sake:
So him I lose through
my unkind abuse
¹²
.
      Him have I lost, thou
hast
¹³
both him and me:
      He
pays the whole
¹⁴
, and yet am I not free.

Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy
Will
¹
,
And Will
to boot
²
, and Will in
overplus
:
More than enough am I that
vex
³
thee
still
,
To thy sweet will making addition
⁴
thus.
Wilt thou, whose
will is large and spacious
⁵
,
Not once
vouchsafe
⁶
to hide my
will in thine
?
Shall will in others seem
right gracious
⁷
,
And
in my will no fair acceptance shine
⁸
?
The sea all water, yet receives rain still
And in abundance addeth to his store.
So thou, being
rich in Will
¹¹
, add to
thy Will
One will of mine
¹²
, to
make thy large Will more
.
     
Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill
¹³
:
      Think
all but one and me in that one Will
¹⁴
.

If thy soul
check
¹
thee that I
come so near
,
Swear to thy
blind
²
soul that I was thy
Will
,
And will, thy soul knows, is
admitted there
³
:
Thus far
for love
⁴
my
love-suit
, sweet, fulfil.
Will
⁵
will
fulfil
the
treasure of thy love
,
Ay,
fill it full with wills, and my will one
⁶
.
In things of great
receipt
⁷
with ease we prove
Among a number one is reckoned none.
Then in the number let me pass
untold
⁹
,
Though in
thy store’s account
¹⁰
I one must be:
For nothing
¹¹
hold
me,
so
it please thee hold
That
nothing me
¹²
, a
something
sweet to thee.
     
Make but
¹³
my name
thy love and love that still,
      And then thou lovest me, for my name is Will.

Thou
blind
¹
fool, love, what dost thou to mine eyes,
That they behold and see not what they see?
They know what beauty is, see where it
lies
³
,
Yet
what the be
⁴
st is take the worst to be.
If eyes
corrupt by over-partial looks
⁵
Be anchored in the
bay
⁶
where all men
ride
,
Why of eyes’ falsehood hast thou forgèd hooks,
Whereto the judgement of my heart is tied?
Why should my heart think that a
several plot
⁹
Which my heart knows the
wide world’s common place
¹⁰
?
Or
¹¹
mine eyes seeing this, say this is
not
,
To put fair truth upon so foul a face
¹²
?
      In things right true my heart and eyes have erred,
      And to this
false plague
¹⁴
are they now transferred.

When my love swears that she is
made of truth
¹
,
I do believe her, though I know she
lies
²
,
That
³
she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearnèd in the world’s
false subtleties
⁴
.
Thus
vainly
⁵
thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply
⁷
I
credit
her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed.
But
wherefore
⁹
says she not she is
unjust
?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love’s best
habit
¹¹
is in
seeming
trust,
And age in love loves not to have years
told
¹²
.
      Therefore I
lie
¹³
with her and she with me,
      And in our faults by lies we
flattered
¹⁴
be.

O, call not me to justify the wrong
That thy unkindness lays upon my heart,
Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue
³
,
Use power
⁴
with power and slay me not by
art
,
Tell me thou lov’st elsewhere, but in my sight,
Dear heart, forbear to glance thine eye aside.
What need’st thou wound with cunning when thy
might
⁷
Is more than my
o’erpressed
⁸
defence can
bide
?
Let me excuse thee: ah, my love well knows
Her
pretty looks
¹⁰
have been mine enemies,
And therefore from my face she turns my foes,
That they elsewhere might dart their injuries:
      Yet do not so, but since I am near slain,
      Kill me outright with looks and rid my pain.