| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Comfort | | By William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | | WHEN, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes, | |
| I all alone beweep my outcast state, | |
| And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, | |
| And look upon myself, and curse my fate, | |
| Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, | 5 |
| Featured like him, like him with friends possest, | |
| Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, | |
| With what I most enjoy contented least; | |
| Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,— | |
| Haply I think on Thee: and then my state, | 10 |
| Like to the Lark at break of day arising | |
| From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate; | |
| For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings | |
| That then I scorn to change my state with Kings. | | | | |
|
|
