Sonnet 82. Craig, W.J., ed. 1914. The Oxford Shakespeare

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

Sonnet LXXXII.

“I grant thou wert not married to my Muse”

I GRANT thou wert not married to my Muse
And therefore mayst without attaint o’erlook
The dedicated words which writers use
Of their fair subject, blessing every book.
Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,	5
Finding thy worth a limit past my praise;
And therefore art enforc’d to seek anew
Some fresher stamp of the time-bettering days.
And do so, love; yet when they have devis’d
What strained touches rhetoric can lend,	10
Thou truly fair wert truly sympathized
In true plain words by thy true-telling friend;
And their gross painting might be better used
Where cheeks need blood; in thee it is abus’d.