Sonnet · Love
Sonnet 92: But do thy worst to steal thyself away
1But do thy worst to steal thyself away,
2For term of life thou art assured mine;
3And life no longer than thy love will stay,
4For it depends upon that love of thine.
5Then need I not to fear the worst of wrongs,
6When in the least of them my life hath end.
7I see a better state to me belongs
8Than that which on thy humour doth depend:
9Thou canst not vex me with inconstant mind,
10Since that my life on thy revolt doth lie.
11O! what a happy title do I find,
12Happy to have thy love, happy to die!
13 But what's so blessed-fair that fears no blot?
14 Thou mayst be false, and yet I know it not.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Sonnet 92: But do thy worst to steal thyself away” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-92
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sonnet 92: But do thy worst to steal thyself away
- Poet
- William Shakespeare
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Sonnet
- Themes
- Love, Death & Loss
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a sonnet, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- William Shakespeare1564–1616
- Source record
- PoetryDBSonnet 92: But do thy worst to steal thyself away by william-shakespeare, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 9bc4ea16d9eb581e…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Keep reading
Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
William Shakespeare · 1609
14 lines · sonnet
Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds
William Shakespeare · 1609
14 lines · sonnet
Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
William Shakespeare · 1609
14 lines · sonnet