I grant thou wert not married to my Muse (Sonnet 82)
I grant thou wert not married to my Muse
And therefore mayst without attaint o’erlook
The dedicated words which writers use
Of their fair subject, blessing every book.
Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,
Finding thy worth a limit past my praise,
And therefore art enforced to seek anew
Some fresher stamp of the time-battering days.
And do so, love; yet when they have devised
What strained touches rhetoric can lend,
Thou truly fair wert truly sympathized
In true plain words by thy true telling friend;
And their gross painting might be better used
Where cheeks need blood; in thee it is abused.
Credit
This poem is in the public domain.
Date Published
01/01/1904