Shakespeare's Sonnets: Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault

Sonnet 89

Original Text
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): f3r-f3v.
1Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,
2And I will comment upon that offence,
3Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,
4Against thy reasons making no defence.
5Thou canst not (love) disgrace me half so ill,
6To set a form upon desired change,
7As I'll my self disgrace, knowing thy will.
8I will acquaintance strangle and look strange:
9Be absent from thy walks and in my tongue
10Thy sweet belovèd name no more shall dwell
11Lest I (too much profane) should do it wrong
12And haply of our old acquaintance tell.
13    For thee, against my self I'll vow debate,
14    For I must ne'er love him whom thou dost hate.

Notes

1] Say] Suppose. Back to Line
3] halt] limp. Back to Line
6] set a form upon] prescribe in me. Back to Line
8] look strange: "to look at a person as if one did not know him" (OED, "strange," a., 11e; an idiom unique to Shakespeare, first in The Comedy of Errors). Back to Line
12] haply] accidentally. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Rhyme
ababcdcdefefgg
Form
sonnet