Back to Index

Sonnet CXXIX. [The expense of spirit in a waste of shame]

by William Shakespeare, 1609

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action: and till action, lust
Is perjur'd, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoy'd no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest, to have extreme;
A bliss in proof,-- and prov'd, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos'd; behind a dream.
      All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
      To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

Published in Shakespeare's Sonnets
Tags:

Any corrections or public domain poems I should have here? Email me at poems (at) this domain.