William Shakespeare, Sonnet cxi
O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,
The gulity goddess of my harmful deeds,
That did not better for my life provide,
4
Than public means, which public manners breeds.
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,
And almost thence my nature is subdued
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand:
8
Pity me then, and wish I were renew'd ;
Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink
No bitterness that I will bitter think,
12
Nor double penance, to correct correction.
Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye,
Even that your pity is enough to cure me.
Notes
line 10: Eysell -- vinegar. [ Back to text ]
Most notes to Shakespeare's sonnets are from Charles Knight's edition, but those in square brackets are mine.