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Sonnet 46. Shakespeare

Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie,—
A closet never pierc'd with crystal eyes—
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To 'cide this title is impannelled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart;
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye's moiety, and the dear heart's part:
    As thus; mine eye's due is thy outward part,
    And my heart's right, thy inward love of heart.

William Shakespeare, 1598

Sonnet 46. First edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets, 1609.

Sonnet 46. First edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets, 1609.

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