30 DAYS OF POETRY Day XXV – Sonnet 130
How much do I love Shakespeare? A whole lot, so it was hard for me to choose just one thing he’s written to read on around the 400th anniversary of his death. But out of all the sonnets, 130 has always been one of my favorites (and also the first I ever encountered -- on 6th-grade standardized testing materials, strangely enough).
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask’d, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.