William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Why did'st thou promise such a beaut'ous day
Sonnet 34
1Why did'st thou promise such a beaut'ous day
2And make me travail forth without my cloak,
3To let base clouds o'er-take me in my way,
4Hiding thy brav'ry in their rotten smoke?
5'Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break,
6To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face,
7For no man well of such a salve can speak,
8That heals the wound, and cures not the disgrace:
9Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief,
10Though thou repent, yet I have still the loss.
11Th' offender's sorrow lends but weak relief
12To him that bears the strong offence's cross.
13 Ah but those tears are pearl which thy love sheds,
14 And they are rich, and ransom all ill deeds.
Notes
1] beaut'ous] beauteous Q.
5] Shakespeare again compares the beloved to the sun (cf. sonnets 7, 33).
12] cross] losse Q (an identical rhyme with line 10). A "losse"-"crosse" rhyme in the same location in sonnet 42 (lines 10, 12) lends support to this widely-accepted emendation.
Online text copyright © 2012, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): c4r.
First publication date:
1609
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2008
Recent editing: 1:2008/8/23
Form: sonnet
Rhyme: ababcdcdefefgg
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