Sonnet 92

But doe thy worst to steale thy selfe away,

For tearme of life thou art assured mine,

And life no longer then thy love will stay,

For it depends upon that love of thine.


Then need I not to feare the worst of wrongs,

When in the least of them my life hath end,

I see, a better state to me belongs

Then that, which on thy humor doth depend.


Thou canst not vex me with inconstant minde,

Since that my life on thy revolt doth lie,

Oh what a happy title do I finde,

Happy to have thy love, happy to die!


But whats so blessed faire that feares no blot,

Thou maist be falce, and yet I know it not.

Commentary

Address to his beloved

Changes to the original text:

In the first quatrain, the poet professes himself to be content since his life will not extend any further than his possession of his beloved. In other words, if he loses his beloved, he will end his life, so 'for tearme of life thou art assured mine'.

In the second quatrain, the poet continues working out the logic of the situation, professing that he need no longer fear that his beloved might be unfaithful (the worst of wrongs), since even at the least of wrongs, presumably that the beloved tells him (the poet) that he does not want to see him any more, he (the poet) will terminate his life.

In the third quatrain, the poet asserts that his beloved cannot worry him with his inconstancy since he is happy either with the beloved's constancy or with death.

In the final couplet, the poet's anxieties resurface. He speculates that maybe his beloved is false, but he does not know it. This is clearly a third case, the first two being death and having his beloved. The couplet introduces the third case of having his beloved and his beloved being false but he (the poet) not knowing it.