Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 28
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For other versions of this work, see Sonnet 28 (Shakespeare).
28
How can I then return in happy plight,
That am debarr'd the benefit of rest?
When day's oppression is not eas'd by night,
But day by night, and night by day oppress'd, 4
And each, though enemies to either's reign,
Do in consent shake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still further off from thee. 8
I tell the day, to please him, thou art bright
And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven:
So flatter I the swart-complexion'd night,
When sparkling stars twire not thou gild'st the even. 12
But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer,
And night doth nightly make grief's strength seem stronger.
6 shake hands: conspire
12 twire: peep, twinkle