English poem
Sonnet 119: What potions have I drunk of Siren tears
What potions have I drunk of Siren tears, Distill'd from limbecks foul as hell within, Applying fears to hopes, and hopes to fears, Still losing when I saw myself to win! What wretched errors hath my heart committed, Whilst it hath thought itself so blessed never! How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted, In the distraction of this madding fever! O benefit of ill! now I find true That better is, by evil still made better; And ruin'd love, when it is built anew, Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater. So I return rebuk'd to my content, And gain by ill thrice more than I have spent.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 114: Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you
- Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds
- Sonnet 117: Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all
- Sonnet 118: Like as, to make our appetite more keen
- Sonnet 11: As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st
- Sonnet 120: That you were once unkind befriends me now
- Sonnet 121: 'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd
- Sonnet 122: Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain