Sonnet 79. Craig, W.J., ed. 1914. The Oxford Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The Oxford Shakespeare: Poems. 1914.

Sonnet LXXIX.

“Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid”

WHILST I alone did call upon thy aid
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace;
But now my gracious numbers are decay’d,
And my sick muse doth give an other place.
I grant, sweet love, thy lovely argument	5
Deserves the travail of a worthier pen;
Yet what of thee thy poet doth invent
He robs thee of, and pays it thee again.
He lends thee virtue, and he stole that word
From thy behaviour; beauty doth he give,	10
And found it in thy cheek; he can afford
No praise to thee but what in thee doth live.
Then thank him not for that which he doth say,
Since what he owes thee thou thyself dost pay.