William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet XXVIII
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.
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