English poem
Sonnet 120: That you were once unkind befriends me now
That you were once unkind befriends me now, And for that sorrow, which I then did feel, Needs must I under my transgression bow, Unless my nerves were brass or hammer'd steel. For if you were by my unkindness shaken, As I by yours, you've pass'd a hell of time; And I, a tyrant, have no leisure taken To weigh how once I suffer'd in your crime. O! that our night of woe might have remember'd My deepest sense, how hard true sorrow hits, And soon to you, as you to me, then tender'd The humble salve, which wounded bosoms fits! But that your trespass now becomes a fee; Mine ransoms yours, and yours must ransom me.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 117: Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all
- Sonnet 118: Like as, to make our appetite more keen
- Sonnet 119: What potions have I drunk of Siren tears
- Sonnet 11: As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st
- Sonnet 121: 'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd
- Sonnet 122: Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain
- Sonnet 123: No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change
- Sonnet 124: If my dear love were but the child of state