Sonnet 130
by William Shakespeare
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,1
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses demasked,2 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.3
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.
1 dun: dull gray-brown.
2 demasked: dappled or streaked with
various colors.
3 reeks: emanates.
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Poetry
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