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Home  »  The Oxford Shakespeare  »  Sonnet XCI

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

“Some glory in their birth, some in their skill”

Sonnet XCI

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,          5
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,   10
Of more delight than hawks and horses be;  
And having thee, of all men’s pride I boast:  
  Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take  
  All this away, and me most wretched make.