Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume II. Love. 1904. | | | | I. Admiration | | “The forward violet thus did I chide” | | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | Sonnet XCIX.
THE FORWARD violet thus did I chide:— | |
| Sweet thief, whence did thou steal thy sweet that smells, | |
| If not from my love’s breath? the purple pride | |
| Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells, | |
| In my love’s veins thou hast too grossly dyed. | 5 |
| The lily I condemnèd for thy hand, | |
| And buds of marjoram had stolen thy hair: | |
| The roses fearfully on thorns did stand, | |
| One blushing shame, another white despair; | |
| A third, nor red nor white, had stolen of both, | 10 |
| And to this robbery had annexed thy breath; | |
| But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth | |
| A vengeful canker eat him up to death. | |
| More flowers I noted, yet I none could see, | |
| But sweet or color it had stolen from thee. | 15 | | | |
|
|
