William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet XCV
How sweet
and lovely dost thou make the shame
Which, like a canker
in the fragrant rose,
Doth spot the beauty
of thy budding name!
O! in what sweets
dost thou thy sins enclose.
That tongue that tells
the story of thy days,
Making lascivious
comments on thy sport,
Cannot dispraise,
but in a kind of praise;
Naming thy name, blesses
an ill report.
O! what a mansion
have those vices got
Which for their habitation
chose out thee,
Where beauty's veil
doth cover every blot
And all things turns
to fair that eyes can see!
Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege;
The hardest knife ill-us'd doth lose his edge.
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