William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet CIII
Alack! what
poverty my Muse brings forth,
That having such a
scope to show her pride,
The argument, all
bare, is of more worth
Than when it hath
my added praise beside!
O! blame me not, if
I no more can write!
Look in your glass,
and there appears a face
That over-goes my
blunt invention quite,
Dulling my lines,
and doing me disgrace.
Were it not sinful
then, striving to mend,
To mar the subject
that before was well?
For to no other pass
my verses tend
Than of your graces
and your gifts to tell;
And more, much more, than in my verse can sit,
Your own glass shows you when you look in it.
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