(1564–1616)
Sonnet CXXIX
The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and, till action, lust
Is perjur’d, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, and not to trust;
Enjoy’d, no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as swallowed bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof,—and prov’d, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos’d; behind, a dream.
And this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
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