69
Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view
Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend;
All tongues—the voice of souls—give thee that due,
Uttering bare truth, even so as foes commend. 4
Thy outward thus with outward praise is crown'd;
But those same tongues, that give thee so thine own,
In other accents do this praise confound
By seeing farther than the eye hath shown. 8
They look into the beauty of thy mind,
And that, in guess, they measure by thy deeds;
Then,—churls,—their thoughts, although their eyes were kind,
To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds: 12
But why thy odour matcheth not thy show,
The soil is this, that thou dost common grow.
70
That thou art blam'd shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air. 4
So thou be good, slander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater, being woo'd of time;
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
And thou present'st a pure unstained prime. 8
Thou hast pass'd by the ambush of young days,
Either not assail'd, or victor being charg'd;
Yet this thy praise cannot be so thy praise,
To tie up envy evermore enlarg'd: 12
If some suspect of ill mask'd not thy show,
Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts shouldst owe.
14 soil; cf. n.
common: too accessible
1–14 Cf. n.
3 ornament: identifying badge
suspect: suspicion, distrust
5 approve: prove
6 woo'd of time: wooed by the world
8 prime: spring, youth
10 charg'd: attacked
11 so thy praise: so much thy praise
12 To tie up: that it will tie up
enlarg'd: at liberty
13 mask'd not thy show: did not disfigure your beauty
14 owe: own
