Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 127
127
In the old age black was not counted fair,
Or if it were, it bore not beauty's name;
But now is black beauty's successive heir,
And beauty slander'd with a bastard's shame: 4
For since each hand hath put on Nature's power,
Fairing the foul with Art's false borrow'd face,
Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower,
But is profan'd, if not lives in disgrace. 8
Therefore my mistress' brows are raven black,
Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem
At such who, not born fair, no beauty lack,
Sland'ring creation with a false esteem: 12
Yet so they mourn, becoming of their woe,
That every tongue says beauty should look so.
1–14 Cf. n.
1 black . . . fair; cf. n.
3 successive: legitimate
6 Fairing . . . face: beautifying ugliness by cosmetics
10 suited: attired
11 no beauty lack: make themselves beautiful by artifice
13 so: in such a manner
becoming of: gracing