Monday, March 17, 2014

Sonnet 134, by NY Shakespeare Exchange


So now I have confessed that he is thine,
And I my self am mortgaged to thy will,
Myself I'll forfeit, so that other mine
Thou wilt restore to be my comfort still:
But thou wilt not, nor he will not be free,
For thou art covetous, and he is kind;
He learned but surety-like to write for me,
Under that bond that him as fast doth bind.
The statute of thy beauty thou wilt take,
Thou usurer, that put'st forth all to use,
And sue a friend came debtor for my sake;
So him I lose through my unkind abuse.
     Him have I lost; thou hast both him and me:
     He pays the whole, and yet am I not free.
Sonnet 134, from The Sonnet Project, by the New York Shakespeare Exchange.

This is really good.  I wouldn't have seen this sonnet as one about giving up a baby for adoption.  But as it is, it is painful, and real, and apropos for the kind of life event (I imagine) a young, disadvantaged city woman is likely to face.

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