Sonnet 142: Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate

1Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,

2Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving:

3O! but with mine compare thou thine own state,

4And thou shalt find it merits not reproving;

5Or, if it do, not from those lips of thine,

6That have profan'd their scarlet ornaments

7And seal'd false bonds of love as oft as mine,

8Robb'd others' beds' revenues of their rents.

9Be it lawful I love thee, as thou lov'st those

10Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee:

11Root pity in thy heart, that, when it grows,

12Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.

13 If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,

14 By self-example mayst thou be denied!