William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet CXI
O! for my
sake do you with Fortune chide,
The guilty goddess
of my harmful deeds,
That did not better
for my life provide
Than public means
which public manners breeds.
Thence comes it that
my name receives a brand,
And almost thence
my nature is subdu'd
To what it works in,
like the dyer's hand:
Pity me, then, and
wish I were renew'd;
Whilst, like a willing
patient, I will drink,
Potions of eisel 'gainst
my strong infection;
No bitterness that
I will bitter think,
Nor double penance,
to correct correction.
Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye,
Even that your pity is enough to cure me.
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