HomePoetsPoemsBooks

William Shakespeare

Sonnet x

THEN hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now:
Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross,
Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,
And do not drop in for an after loss:

Ah! do not, when my heart hath ’scaped this sorrow,
Come in the rearward of a conquer’d woe;
Give not a windy night a rainy morrow,
To linger out a purposed overthrow.

If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last,
When other petty griefs have done their spite,
But in the onset come: so shall I taste
At first the very worst of fortune’s might;

And other strains of woe, which now seem woe,
Compared with loss of thee will not seem so!

About the poet

William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare
1564-1616

 
By the same poet
Sonnet i
Sonnet ii
Sonnet iii
Sonnet iv
Sonnet v
Sonnet vi
Sonnet vii
Sonnet viii
Sonnet ix
Sonnet xi
Sonnet xii
Sonnet xiii
Sonnet xiv
Sonnet xv
Sonnet xvi
Sonnet xvii
Sonnet xviii
Sonnet xix
Sonnet xx
Carpe Diem
Silvia
The Blossom
Spring and Winter (i)
Spring and Winter (ii)
Fairy Land (i)
Fairy Land (ii)
Fairy Land (iii)
Fairy Land (iv)
Fairy Land (v)
Love
Dirge
Under the Greenwood Tree
Blow, blow, thou Winter Wind
It was a Lover and his Lass
Take, O take those Lips away
Aubade
Fidele
The Phoenix and the Turtle
 
Related books
The Arden Shakespeare: Shakespeare's Sonnets, William Shakespeare, Katherine Duncan-Jones (Editor)
Shakespeare's Sonnets (Penguin Classics), William Shakespeare
The Complete Sonnets [AUDIOBOOK], William Shakespeare, Michael Williams (Narrator), Peter Egan (Narrator), Peter Orr (Narrator), Bob Peck (Narrator)
William Shakespeare at amazon.co.uk

Support this site

Please help us to improve this site by supporting the site on Patreon. As a supporter you will get access to the English Verse Discord server, where you can meet other poetry enthusiasts and help shape the development of the site.

Become a supporter

Find out more