English poem
Sonnet 72: O! lest the world should task you to recite
O! lest the world should task you to recite What merit lived in me, that you should love After my death,--dear love, forget me quite, For you in me can nothing worthy prove; Unless you would devise some virtuous lie, To do more for me than mine own desert, And hang more praise upon deceased I Than niggard truth would willingly impart: O! lest your true love may seem false in this That you for love speak well of me untrue, My name be buried where my body is, And live no more to shame nor me nor you. For I am shamed by that which I bring forth, And so should you, to love things nothing worth.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 69: Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view
- Sonnet 6: Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
- Sonnet 70: That thou art blam'd shall not be thy defect
- Sonnet 71: No longer mourn for me when I am dead
- Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold
- Sonnet 74: But be contented: when that fell arrest
- Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life
- Sonnet 76: Why is my verse so barren of new pride