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Home  »  The Oxford Shakespeare  »  Sonnet CXIX

William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The Oxford Shakespeare: Poems. 1914.

“What potions have I drunk of Siren tears”

Sonnet CXIX

WHAT potions have I drunk of Siren tears
Distill’d from limbecks foul as hell within,
Applying fears to hopes, and hopes to fears,
Still losing when I saw myself to win!
What wretched errors hath my heart committed,          5
Whilst it hath thought itself so blessed never!
How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted,
In the distraction of this madding fever!
O benefit of ill! now I find true
That better is by evil still made better;   10
And ruin’d love, when it is built anew,
Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater.
  So I return rebuk’d to my content,
  And gain by ill thrice more than I have spent.