April 26th, 2012 → 7:51 am @ Lea // No Comments

Today is national Poem in Your Pocket Day.  In honor of which I spent a bunch of time last night rereading Shakespeare’s sonnets.  It was hard to pick just one for today, and I debated using one of my tried and true favorites (such as sonnet 30 or sonnet 116), but decided in the end to go for a fun new one.

The following sonnet captures a moment in time, when a lover fears for just a second that his love says she ‘hates’ him, when actually she ends up saying she ‘hates not you.’  Phew!

Those lips that Love’s own hand did make
Breathed forth the sound that said “I hate”
To me that languished for her sake;
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet
Was used in giving gentle doom,
And taught it thus anew to greet:
“I hate” she altered with an end
That followed it as gentle day
Doth follow night, who, like a fiend,
From heaven to hell is flown away.
   “I hate” from hate away she threw,
   And saved my life, saying “not you.”  – Sonnet 145