* * *
No more be grieved at that which thou has done:
For as you know we err, this is the way of life.
So many sins that we commit make even devil blush,
Our imperfections are so obvious, no sense to hide.
And sins committed in the name of Love,
No matter how inadvertent or how innocent they are,
We tend mistakenly not to regard as such,
Thinking them posing threat to senses of no one.
But selfless love is pure for all sins it shuns
Committed both in name of Love and mere spite.
W. Shakespeare, Sonnet 35
No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.
All men make faults, and even I in this,
Authorizing thy trespass with compare,
Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss,
Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are;
For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense -
Thy adverse party is thy advocate -
And 'gainst myself a lawful plea commence:
Such civil war is in my love and hate
That I an accessary needs must be
To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Posted: Mar 2011
About this poem:
In this sonnet sins committed in the name of love are more than acceptable for the lover, who is ready to be an accomplice of his lover’s “sensual faults” and transgressions because of his all-embracing love, giving sense to every thing in life. I’ve borrowed the first line of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 35. The rest is my opinion about how pure love should avoid being an accessory to sin.
Comments (3)
You did a great re-write here, to paraphrase the Bard into modern vernacular is no easy task, but you have done a fine job.
Regards
Bill x