Sonnet 28. Craig, W.J., ed. 1914. The Oxford Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The Oxford Shakespeare: Poems. 1914.

Sonnet XXVIII.

“How can I then return in happy plight”

HOW can I then return in happy plight
That am debarr’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,	5
Do in consent shake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still further off from thee.
I tell the day, to please him thou art bright
And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven:	10
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 strength seem stronger.