William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet LXXIX
Whilst I alone
did call upon thy aid,
My verse alone had
all thy gentle grace;
But now my gracious
numbers are decay'd,
And my sick Muse doth
give an other place.
I grant, sweet love,
thy lovely argument
Deserves the travail
of a worthier pen;
Yet what of thee thy
poet doth invent
He robs thee of, and
pays it thee again.
He lends thee virtue,
and he stole that word
From thy behaviour;
beauty doth he give,
And found it in thy
cheek: he can afford
No praise to thee,
but what in thee doth live.
Then thank him not for that which he doth say,
Since what he owes thee, thou thyself dost pay.
|