William Shakespeare, Sonnet cxx
That you were once unkind, befriends me now,
And for that sorrow, which I then did feel,
Needs must I under my transgression bow,
4
Unless my nerves were brass or hammer'd steel.
For if you were by my unkindness shaken,
As I by yours, you have pass'd a hell of time;
And I, a tyrant, have no leisure taken
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To weigh how once I suffer'd in your crime.
My deepest sense, how hard true sorrow hits,
And soon to you, as you to me, then tender'd
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The humble salve which wounded bosoms fits!
But that your trespass now becomes a fee;
Mine ransoms yours, and yours must ransom me.
Notes
line 9:
Most notes to Shakespeare's sonnets are from Charles Knight's edition, but those in square brackets are mine.