Sonnet 66
by William Shakespeare
Tir'd with all these, for restful death I cry,
As, to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And guilded honour shamefully misplaced,
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,
And strength by limping sway disabled,
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly (doctor-like) controlling skill,
And simple truth miscall'd simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill:
Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,
Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.
If you have trouble with Ye Olde English, SparkNotes has a wonderful little site that translates it into modern language. (You do lose the rhythm and the rhyme, of course.) Have a look HERE.
Oh! that translation really helped! I also liked to go BACK to the sonnet AFTER reading the translation--it worked better for me that way!
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