Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy.
Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly,
Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy?
If the true concord of well-tunèd sounds,
By unions married, do offend thine ear,
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering,
Resembling sire and child and happy mother,
Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing;
Whose speechless song being many, seeming one,
Sings this to thee: "Thou single wilt prove none."
More verses by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 19: Devouring Time Blunt Thou The Lion's Paws
- Sonnet 146: Poor Soul, The Centre Of My Sinful Earth
- Sonnet 111: O, For My Sake Do You With Fortune Chide
- Sonnet 114: Or Whether Doth My Mind, Being Crowned With You
- Sonnet Cxvi: Let Me Not To The Marriage Of True Minds