Poem A Day

Classic poem

Sonnet 9: Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye

by William Shakespeare

Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye,

That thou consum'st thy self in single life?

Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die,

The world will wail thee like a makeless wife;

The world will be thy widow and still weep

That thou no form of thee hast left behind,

When every private widow well may keep

By children's eyes, her husband's shape in mind:

Look! what an unthrift in the world doth spend

Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;

But beauty's waste hath in the world an end,

And kept unused the user so destroys it.

No love toward others in that bosom sits

That on himself such murd'rous shame commits.

lovedeathbeautysolitudegriefwaridentity
Public domain/Source

About this poem

First line
Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye,
Poet
William Shakespeare
Themes
love, death, beauty, solitude

Poem A Day

Save this poem in the app.

Favorite it in the app and get tomorrow's classic poem.