RPO -- William Shakespeare : Shakespeare's Sonnets: Ah, wherefore with infection should he live

William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Ah, wherefore with infection should he live
Sonnet 67

1Ah, wherefore with infection should he live

2And with his presence grace impiety

3That sin by him advantage should achieve

4And lace it self with his society?

5Why should false painting imitate his cheek

6And steal dead seeing of his living hue?

7Why should poor beauty indirectly seek

8Roses of shadow since his rose is true?

9Why should he live, now nature bankrupt is,

10Begger'd of blood to blush through lively veins,

11For she hath no exchequer now but his,

12And proud of many, lives upon his gains?

13 O him she stores, to show what wealth she had,

14 In days long since, before these last so bad.

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Shakespeare's Sonnets: Tir'd with all these for restful death I cry next poem in the collection
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Thus is his cheek the map of days out-worn

Notes

6] dead seeing] the painting that "sees" the beloved is itself dead, unlike human eyes, which were thought to project beams.

11] she] nature (9).

12] proved of many] made trial of by many, tasted by many. Q "proud" is a regular variant spelling of the past participle of the verb "prove" in this period (see OED).

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): e2v-e3r.
First publication date: 1609
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2008
Recent editing: 1:2008/8/24

Form: sonnet
Rhyme: ababcdcdefefgg

Other poems by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Ah, wherefore with infection should he liveSonnet 67

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Ah, wherefore with infection should he live
Sonnet 67