Soneto de amor XCVI (96)

Te tilda de ser joven, descarriado, 

o por ser joven y vital te adulan,

y todos -ricos, pobres- te aman algo:

tus vicios son tus gracias, y las usas.

Así como en el dedo de una reina

la joya más vulgar parece cara,

tus faltas se traducen en certezas

y todos las encuentran atinadas. 

¿A cuántos corderitos sangraría

el lobo que en cordero se traduce?

¿A cuántos llevarías tú a la ruina

si usaras todo el nervio de tu empuje?

No lo hagas, pues mi amor es tan enorme

que, si eres mío, mío es tu renombre.

Sonnet XCV (95)

How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame

Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose,

Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name!

O, in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose!

That tongue that tells the story of thy days,

Making lascivious comments on thy sport,

Cannot dispraise but in a kind of praise;

Naming thy name blesses an ill report.

O, what a mansion have those vices got

Which for their habitation chose out thee,

Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot,

And all things turn to fair that eyes can see!

   Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege;

   The hardest knife ill-used doth lose his edge. 

2. Canker. A worm preying upon and defacing the blossom. 

3. Thy budding name. An expression which seems to agree very well with the youth of William Herbert, now about nineteen. 

8. Naming thy name, &c. In consequence of Mr. W. H.'s well-known grace and attractiveness. 

12. Turns. So Q. "turnes." "Beauty's veil turns all things to fair," &c. 

14. The hardest knife, &c. Alluding to the result of excessive indulgence. 

Soneto de amor XCV (95)

¡Qué dulce y adorable es tu perfidia

que, como un chancro en la fragante rosa,

correo tu buen nombre y lo mancilla!

¡En qué dulzura envuelves la deshonra!

La lengua que relata tus andanzas

y abunda en la lascivia de tus lances

quisiera difamarte mas te enlaza;

nombrarte limpia el acta más infame.

¡Y qué mansión habitan esos vicios

al escogerte a ti como vivienda,

cuya belleza vela lo nocivo

y toma bella toda la impureza!

Cuidado, corazón, con los antojos, 

que mellan el cuchillo más filoso.

Sonnet XCIV (94)

They that have power to hurt and will do none,

That do not do the thing they most do show,

Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,

Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;

They rightly do inherit heaven's graces

And husband nature's riches from expense;

They are the lords and owners of their faces,

Others but stewards of their excellence.

The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,

Though to itself it only live and die,

But if that flower with base infection meet,

The basest weed out-braves his dignity;

   For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;

   Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

1. Have power to hurt and will do none. Are not impetuous and passionate. 

2-8 Cf. Hamlet, Act iii. sc. 2, lines 70-76,

"Thou hast been As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing; A man that Fortune's buffets and rewards Has ta'en with equal thanks; and blest are those Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger To sound what stop she please."

Shakespeare, himself perhaps very sensitive and quickly moved, may have appreciated too highly a different kind of character. As to the corruption of such a character as that here described, compare the portraiture of Angelo in Measure for Measure. 

6. They do not expend their energies in passionate outbursts. 

7. They are the lords and owners of their faces. Not giving ready expression to emotion. 

8. Others but stewards. Passion being lord.

10. Cf. LIV. 

14. Fester. Corrupt. Persons of the character in question are colourless "lilies" rather than blushing roses. This line had previously appeared in Edward III., a play some have attributed in part to Shakespeare.

Soneto de amor XCIV (94)

Aquellos que pudiendo herir, no hieren

ni hacen tampoco lo que más enseñan,

y permanecen, aun cuando conmueven, 

tan fríos e insensibles como piedras,

son justos herederos de las gracias

del cielo, que administran con mesura;

son dueños y señores de sus caras:

el resto, como mucho, los ayuda.

La flor de estilo luce en el verano

florece y se marchita por su cuenta;

mas basta que la infecte algún hierbajo

para que se resienta su nobleza:

Actuando mal se amarga lo más dulce;

no hay peor olor que el lirio que se pudre.

Sonnet XCIII (93)

So shall I live, supposing thou art true,

Like a deceived husband; so love's face

May still seem love to me, though alter'd new;

Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place:

For there can live no hatred in thine eye,

Therefore in that I cannot know thy change.

In many's looks the false heart's history

Is writ in moods and frowns and wrinkles strange,

But Heaven in thy creation did decree

That in thy face sweet love should ever dwell;

Whate'er thy thoughts or thy heart's workings be, 

Thy looks should nothing thence but sweetness tell.

   How like Eve's apple doth thy beauty grow,

   If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show! 

3. Though alter'd new. Though changed from the expression of real affection to its mere semblance. 

13, 14. How like Eve's apple, &c. The reality not agreeing with appearance and expectation.

Soneto de amor XCIII (93)

He de vivir así, como el esposo

burlado que tolera tus embustes

y cree ver amor en ese rostro

que, ausente el corazón, aún me confunde.

Pues como nunca hay odio en tu mirada

no encuentro allí señal de que has cambiado.

Lo que otros corazones falsos callan

acaba escrito en muecas, gestos, trazos;

en ti parece haber mandado el cielo

que siempre hubiera amor en tu semblante

y nunca el corazón o el pensamiento

alteren la dulzura que repartes.

Es como si el fruto de Eva tu belleza, 

que luce sin mostrarnos lo que encierra.

Sonnet XCII (92)

But do thy worst to steal thyself away,

For term of life thou art assured mine;

And life no longer than thy love will stay,

For it depends upon that love of thine. 

Then need I not to fear the worst of wrongs,

When in the least of them my life hath end. 

I see a better state to me belongs 

Than that which on thy humour doth depend;

Thou canst not vex me with inconstant mind, 

Since that my life on thy revolt doth lie. 

O, what a happy title do I find, 

Happy to have thy love, happy to die!

   But what's so blessed-fair that fears no blot?

   Thou mayst be false, and yet I know it not. 

XCII. Closely connected with the preceding Sonnet, in the two last lines of which the poet speaks of his having only one cause of wretchedness, that he may lose his friend. Now he can find comfort even in this respect. His friend's love is assured to him for life; for the loss of that love will involve the loss of life. Still there is a possibility that his friend's heart may be alienated, though an outward seeming of affection may be continued. 

5-10. The poet cannot fear that continued wretchedness which he had dreaded, since the loss of his friend's affection will entail immediately the loss of life. The "worst of wrongs" will thus be the continued misery of living alienated. The "least of them" will allude to the loss of his friend's affection, and the loss of life is so closely linked therewith that the poet will feel no wretchedness. This is the "better state" which fears no continued "vexation." The pain caused by the loss of the friend's affection is the "least of wrongs" on account of its immediate termination. 

Soneto de amor XCII (92)

Tu trata a toda costa de no hurtarte, 

que el sello que nos une es de por vida

y sin tu amor la vida ya es un balde, 

pues de tu amor depende que perviva.

Mi vida de lo peor se encuentra a salvo

si con lo menos malo ya se muere;

me auguro más a gusto en este estado 

que a expensas de tu humor y sus vaivenes.

Si acaba con mi vida un solo enredo,

¿qué daño puede hacerme tu inconstancia?

Feliz si soy tu amor, feliz si muero;

qué hallazgo tan feliz es mi coartada.

Mas, ¿qué hago tan grato que no sufra ofensa?

Podrías ser falso y yo sin darme cuenta.

Sonnet XCI (91)

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,
Some in their wealth, some in their body's force,
Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill;
Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse;
And every humour hath his adjunct pleasure,
Wherein it finds a joy above the rest:
But these particulars are not my measure;
All these I better in one general best.
Thy love is better than high birth to me,
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' cost,
Of more delight than hawks or horses be;
And having thee, of all men's pride I boast:
Wretched in this alone, that thou may'st take
All this away, and me most wretched make.

XCI. Other men have various objects of supreme interest, or advantages in which they take pride; but the poet takes pride only in his friend. The possibility of losing him is the poet's only source of anxiety and wretchedness.

3. Though new-fangled ill. However unsuitable, though fashionable.

7, 8. But these particular pursuits and objects of interest do not concern me or apply to me. I have one object of interest better than all these, to me the best, yielding as much delight and pride as all the rest combined.

Soneto de amor XCI (91)

Están quienes presumen de su alcurnia

y quienes de sus bienes, maña o fuerza,

de vestir -mal- lo último que se usa,

del perro, del halcón o de la yegua.

A cada humo le atañe una afición

que sólo satisface a quien la siente;

yo en cambio sé que tengo la mejor

pues todas, a su lado, empequeñece.

Tu amor es más valioso que el linaje,

más rico que vestidos y valores,

más caro que caballos o rapaces;

tenerte me destaca de otros hombres.

Más, mísero de mí; si tú te fueras

del lujo pasaría a la miseria.

Sonnet XC (90)

Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now;

Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross,

Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,

And do not drop in for an after-loss:

Ah, do not, when my heart hath 'scoped this sorrow,

Come in the rearward of a conquer'd woe; 

Give not a windy night a rainy morrow, 

To linger out a purposed overthrow.

If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last,

When other petty griefs have done their spite 

But in the onset come; so shall I taste 

At first the very worst of fortune's might, 

   And other strains of woe, which now seem woe,

   Compared with loss of thee will not seem so.

Soneto de amor XC (90)

Si me has de odiar, no dudes, hazlo ahora;

haz, junto a mi desgracia, que me humille

ahora que mi mundo se desploma;

más tarde no habrá más para los buitres.

Y si mi corazón se cura solo

no vengas por detrás a conquistarme;

llover sobre mojado no es el modo

de prolongar el triste desenlace.

Si me vas a dejar, hazlo en seguida, 

sin que otros sinsabores me conmuevan;

embiste de una vez, que tengo prisa

por saborear mi más dura condena.

Al lado de perderte, otros dolores

ni duelen ni parecen tan atroces.

Sonnet LXXXIX (89)

Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,

And I will comment upon that offence;

Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,

Against thy reasons making no defence.

Thou canst not, love, disgrace me half so ill,

To set a form upon desired change, 

As I'll myself disgrace: knowing thy will,

I will acquaintance strangle and look strange,

Be absent from thy walks, and in my tongue

Thy sweet beloved name no more shall dwell,

Lest I, too much profane, should do it wrong

And haply of our old acquaintance tell.

   For thee against myself I'll vow debate,

   For I must ne'er love him whom thou dost hate.

Soneto de amor LXXXIX (89)

Si dices que me dejas por mis faltas, 

no intentaré esconderlas; al contrario;

si mientras mi cojera, no haré nada

por defenderme y andaré renqueando.

Amor, tú a mí no me desgraciarías

ni la mitad que yo, si me cambiases;

enséñame tu anhelo y yo en seguida

seré como un extraño si te place, 

no volveré a cruzarme en tu camino

ni a deleitar mi lengua con tu nombre,

no fuera que, tan sólo con decirlo, 

pudieran inferir que me conoces.

Por ti, yo iré en mi contra sin piedad

tan sólo por no amar al que has de odiar.