English poem
Sonnet 28: How can I then return in happy plight
How can I then return in happy plight, That am debarre'd the benefit of rest? When day's oppression is not eas'd by night, But day by night and night by day oppress'd, And each, though enemies to either's reign, Do in consent shake hands to torture me, The one by toil, the other to complain How far I toil, still farther off from thee. I tell the day, to please him thou art bright, And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven: So flatter I the swart-complexion'd night, When sparkling stars twire not thou gild'st the even. But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer, And night doth nightly make grief's length seem stronger.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 24: Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd
- Sonnet 25: Let those who are in favour with their stars
- Sonnet 26: Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
- Sonnet 27: Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed
- Sonnet 29: When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
- Sonnet 2: When forty winters shall besiege thy brow
- Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
- Sonnet 31: Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts