Откуда у тебя такая мощь,
чтоб ненасытно сердце колебать,
и истину всегда принять за ложь,
и говорить - дню яркости не знать.
Зачем все вещи искажаешь так,
что среди самых черных твоих дел -
увернность и сила мастерства,
что ты и в худшем превосходишь всех?
Кто может так усиливать любовь
и ненависть, сквозь зрение и слух,
Кого не любят - я влюблен в того,
сочувствуй ж состоянью моему.
Раз я влюблен, а ты не заслужила,
я заслужил - чтоб ты меня любила.
SONNET 150
O, from what power hast thou this powerful might
With insufficiency my heart to sway?
To make me give the lie to my true sight,
And swear that brightness doth not grace the day?
Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill,
That in the very refuse of thy deeds
There is such strength and warrantise of skill
That, in my mind, thy worst all best exceeds?
Who taught thee how to make me love thee more
The more I hear and see just cause of hate?
O, though I love what others do abhor,
With others thou shouldst not abhor my state;
If thy unworthiness rais'd love in me,
More worthy I to be beloved of thee.
NOTES
CL. The poet expresses his wonder that a woman so deficient in attractions can exert such a powerful sway over him. But the fact being so, there was the stronger reason why she should return his affection.
2. With insufficiency. With defective attractions, or deficient in attractions.
4. Implying, if the day is bright and beautiful, thou certainly art not so.
5. How is it that thou makest plain and unsightly features and unworthy actions seem so becoming?
6. The very refuse of thy deeds. The worst (line 8) of thy actions.
7. Such strength and warrantise of skill. Such ability and evident cleverness. "Warrantise" has apparently passed to the sense of "evidence."