| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
| |
| William Shakespeare. 1564–1616 |
| |
158. Sonnets
xiv |
| |
| MY love is strengthen'd, though more weak in seeming; | |
| I love not less, though less the show appear: | |
| That love is merchandised whose rich esteeming | |
| The owner's tongue doth publish everywhere. | |
| Our love was new, and then but in the spring, | 5 |
| When I was wont to greet it with my lays; | |
| As Philomel in summer's front doth sing | |
| And stops her pipe in growth of riper days: | |
| Not that the summer is less pleasant now | |
| Than when her mournful hymns did hush the night, | 10 |
| But that wild music burthens every bough, | |
| And sweets grown common lose their dear delight. | |
| Therefore, like her, I sometime hold my tongue, | |
| Because I would not dull you with my song. | |
|
|
