Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 142
For other versions of this work, see Sonnet 142 (Shakespeare).
142
Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving:
O, but with mine compare thou thine own state,
And thou shalt find it merits not reproving; 4
Or, if it do, not from those lips of thine,
That have profan'd their scarlet ornaments
And seal'd false bonds of love as oft as mine,
Robb'd others' beds' revenues of their rents. 8
Be it lawful I love thee, as thou lov'st those
Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee:
Root pity in thy heart, that when it grows,
Thy pity may deserve to pitied be. 12
If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,
By self-example mayst thou be denied!
13 what thou dost hide: the love you refuse