Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 130
For other versions of this work, see Sonnet 130 (Shakespeare).
130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. 4
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. 8
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: 12
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
5 damask'd: of the shade of a damask rose
14 compare: comparisons