William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet CXXXIX
O! call not
me to justify the wrong
That thy unkindness
lays upon my heart;
Wound me not with
thine eye, but with thy tongue:
Use power with power,
and slay me not by art,
Tell me thou lov'st
elsewhere; but in my sight,
Dear heart, forbear
to glance thine eye aside:
What need'st thou
wound with cunning, when thy might
Is more than my o'erpress'd
defence can bide?
Let me excuse thee:
ah! my love well knows
Her pretty looks have
been mine enemies;
And therefore from
my face she turns my foes,
That they elsewhere
might dart their injuries:
Yet do not so; but since I am near slain,
Kill me outright with looks, and rid my pain.
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