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Sonnet XLVI. [Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,]

by William Shakespeare, 1609

Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie,--
A closet never pierc'd with crystal eyes--
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To side this title is impannelled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart;
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye's moiety, and the dear heart's part:
      As thus; mine eye's due is thy outward part,
      And my heart's right, thy inward love of heart.

Published in Shakespeare's Sonnets
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