English poem
Sonnet 82: I grant thou wert not married to my Muse
I grant thou wert not married to my Muse, And therefore mayst without attaint o'erlook The dedicated words which writers use Of their fair subject, blessing every book. Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue, Finding thy worth a limit past my praise; And therefore art enforced to seek anew Some fresher stamp of the time-bettering days. And do so, love; yet when they have devis'd, What strained touches rhetoric can lend, Thou truly fair, wert truly sympathiz'd In true plain words, by thy true-telling friend; And their gross painting might be better us'd Where cheeks need blood; in thee it is abus'd.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 79: Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid
- Sonnet 7: Lo! in the orient when the gracious light
- Sonnet 80: O! how I faint when I of you do write
- Sonnet 81: Or I shall live your epitaph to make
- Sonnet 83: I never saw that you did painting need
- Sonnet 84: Who is it that says most, which can say more
- Sonnet 85: My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still
- Sonnet 86: Was it the proud full sail of his great verse