Shakespeare's SonnetsWilliam Shakespeare
poetry · Item 89
A reason to turn the page
If you forsake me, I'll make your name forbidden and pretend to be a stranger—how far will self-betrayal go to punish love?
Discovery 14 of 15LXXXIX
Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault, And I will comment upon that offence: Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt, Against thy reasons making no defence. Thou canst not love disgrace me half so ill, To set a form upon desired change, As I’ll myself disgrace; knowing thy will, I will acquaintance strangle, and look strange; Be absent from thy walks; and in my tongue Thy sweet beloved name no more shall dwell, Lest I, too much profane, should do it wrong, And haply of our old acquaintance tell. For thee, against my self I’ll vow debate, For I must ne’er love him whom thou dost hate.