William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet LXXII
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.
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