Sonnet 31 (Shakespeare)

A Sonnet (or short poem) from a collection written by William Shakespeare, published in 1609. 

#31

Synopsis:

The poet sees the many friends now lost to him as contained in his beloved. Thus, the love he once gave to his lost friends is now given wholly to the beloved.

 

Thy bosom is endearèd with all hearts

Which I by lacking have supposèd dead,

And there reigns love and all love’s loving parts,

And all those friends which I thought burièd.

How many a holy and obsequious tear

Hath dear religious love stol’n from mine eye,

As interest of the dead, which now appear

But things removed that hidden in ⌜thee⌝ lie.

Thou art the grave where buried love doth live,

Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone,

Who all their parts of me to thee did give;

That due of many now is thine alone.

 Their images I loved I view in thee,

 And thou, all they, hast all the all of me.

(Project Gutenberg, Public Domain)