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How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame,
Which like a canker in the fragrant Rose,
Doth spot the beautie of thy budding name!
Oh in what sweets doest thou thy sinnes inclose!
That tongue that tells the story of thy daies,
(Making lascivious comments on thy sport)
Cannot dispraise, but in a kind of praise,
Naming thy name blesses and ill report.
Oh what a mansion have those vices got,
Which for their habitation chose out thee,
Where beauties vaile doth cover every blot,
And all things turnes to faire that eies can see.
Take heed (deare heart) of this large priviledge,
The hardest knife ill us'd doth loose his edge.
Commentary
Commentary
Address to his beloved
Address to his beloved
Changes to the original text: end of line 3, question mark changed to exclamation mark; line 8, comma deleted after 'name'; line 12, comma deleted after 'faire'; line 12, 'feel' changed to 'see'
In the first quatrain, the poet observes that his beloved hides his 'shame' and 'sinnes' in a beautiful exterior, like the rose hides the canker. He does not specify what shame or sins.
In the second quatrain, the poet informs that the person who relates the young man's behaviour can only do say with a kind of praise.
In the third quatrain, the poet observes that the young man's vices have a fine mansion in which a veil of the young man's beauty is pulled over the blots.
In the final couplet, the poet tells the young man to take heed, as bad behaviour (knife ill us'd) can lead to problems (loose his edge).
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