Sonnet 75 by William Shakespeare:
Please see: shakespeare-online.com/
Sonnet 75
Original Text:
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet seasoned show'rs are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ’twixt a miser and his wealth is found;
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then bettered that the world may see my pleasure;
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight
And by and by clean starvèd for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight,
Save what is had or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.
Modern Text:
I need you the way living things need food or the
grass needs rain, and to attain the peace that only
you can give me, I fight with myself the way a miser
struggles with his wealth. One moment he enjoys his
wealth proudly, and the next he’s worried that
someone from these thieving times will steal his
treasure. One moment I think it’s best to be alone
with you, but then I think it would be better if the rest
of the world could see my pleasure. At times I feel
oversatisfied from looking at you excessively, but a
little later I’m starving to get a look at you. I can’t
experience or pursue any enjoyment except what you
can give me or I can take from you. That’s why I suffer
and feel hungry day after day, because I either get too
much of you or none at all.
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet seasoned show'rs are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ’twixt a miser and his wealth is found;
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then bettered that the world may see my pleasure;
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight
And by and by clean starvèd for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight,
Save what is had or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.
Modern Text:
I need you the way living things need food or the
grass needs rain, and to attain the peace that only
you can give me, I fight with myself the way a miser
struggles with his wealth. One moment he enjoys his
wealth proudly, and the next he’s worried that
someone from these thieving times will steal his
treasure. One moment I think it’s best to be alone
with you, but then I think it would be better if the rest
of the world could see my pleasure. At times I feel
oversatisfied from looking at you excessively, but a
little later I’m starving to get a look at you. I can’t
experience or pursue any enjoyment except what you
can give me or I can take from you. That’s why I suffer
and feel hungry day after day, because I either get too
much of you or none at all.