Sonnets

Sonnet 144

Two loves I have, of comfort and despair,
Which, like two spirits, do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman coloured ill.
To win me soon to hell my female evil
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turned fiend
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell;
But being both from me both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another’s hell.
Yet this shall I know, but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

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See its words in the cloud.

Modern spelling for reading. The edition is public domain in the United States. Edition source.