Sonnet 72: O! lest the world should task you to recite

1O! lest the world should task you to recite

2What merit lived in me, that you should love

3After my death, — dear love, forget me quite,

4For you in me can nothing worthy prove;

5Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,

6To do more for me than mine own desert,

7And hang more praise upon deceased I

8Than niggard truth would willingly impart:

9O! lest your true love may seem false in this

10That you for love speak well of me untrue,

11My name be buried where my body is,

12And live no more to shame nor me nor you.

13 For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,

14 And so should you, to love things nothing worth.