My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun
Coral is far more red than her lips red
If snow be white why then her breasts are dun
If hairs be wires black wires grow on her head
I have seen roses
damasked red and white
But no such roses see I in her cheeks
And in some
perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks
I love to hear her speak yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing
sound
I grant I never saw a goddess go
My mistress when she walks treads on the
ground
And yet by heaven I think my love as rare
Any she belied with false
compare
That was Sonnet 130 in which
Shakespeare lists all the
characteristics that make his lover
unattractive, and then ends the poem by
saying that even with all that she is
incomparable. And I respond to that
sonnet now because in this difficult
time. There are still things that make
life wonderful. So I hope you my Trinity
family find some peace in the world
today. And I look forward to seeing you
again in the streets and in the parks
and the restaurants and the shops and at
the theatre
