Sonnet 72

O least the world should task you to recite,

What merit liv'd in me that you should love

After my death (deare love) forget me quite,

For you in me can nothing worthy prove.

Unlesse you would devise some vertuous lye,

To doe more for me then mine owne desert,

And hang more praise upon deceased I,

Then nigard truth would willingly impart:

O least your true love may seeme falce in this,

That you for love speake well of me untrue,

My name be buried where my body is,

And live no more to shame nor me, nor you.

For I am shamd by that which I bring forth,

And so should you, to love things nothing worth.

Commentary

Address to his beloved

In the first quatrain, the poet instructs his beloved to forget him quite when he is dead, since he (the beloved) will get nothing worthwhile from praising him (the poet).

In the second quatrain, the poet postulates that perhaps his beloved could invent some 'virtuous lie' to give him (the poet) more worth than he really has.

In the third quatrain, the poet backtracks on his previous advice, stating that he (the beloved) should not untruly praise him after death, rather he should bury him and forget him.

In the final couplet, the poet states that he is ashamed of what he brings forth, and so should his beloved be to like things that are worth nothing.

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