Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | I. Disappointment in Love | | The Course of True Love | | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | From “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Act I. Sc. 1. |
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FOR aught that ever I could read, | |
| Could ever hear by tale or history, | |
| The course of true love never did run smooth: | |
| But, either it was different in blood, | |
| Or else misgraffèd in respect of years, | 5 |
| Or else it stood upon the choice of friends; | |
| Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, | |
| War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, | |
| Making it momentary as a sound, | |
| Swift as a shadow, short as any dream; | 10 |
| Brief as the lightning in the collied night, | |
| That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth, | |
| And ere a man hath power to say,—Behold! | |
| The jaws of darkness do devour it up: | |
| So quick bright things come to confusion. | 15 | | |
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