Monday, November 18, 2013

SONNET LXX

That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
 For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
 The ornament of beauty is suspect,
 A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
 So thou be good, slander doth but approve
 Thy worth the greater, being woo'd of time;
 For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
 And thou present'st a pure unstained prime.
 Thou hast pass'd by the ambush of young days,
 Either not assail'd or victor being charged;
 Yet this thy praise cannot be so thy praise,
 To tie up envy evermore enlarged:
     If some suspect of ill mask'd not thy show,
     Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts shouldst owe.

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