Sonnet 42 by Shakespeare
Channel: My Outcast State
Date: 2011-10-07

Welcome
        Home
        Introductory notes

    The Sonnets
        The dedication
        Title page
        1-50
        51-100
        101-154
        All sonnets
        Index of first lines
        A Lover's Complaint

    Wyatt
        Rondeaus
        Misc poems I
        Misc poems II
        Misc poems III
        Later misc poems I
        Later misc poems II
        Epigrams
        Sonnets 1-20
        Sonnets 20-31
        Satires
        Others Dev.Ia
        Others Dev.Ib
        Others Dev.IIa
        Others Dev.IIb
        Others Dev.IIc
        Others absent from ED
        Tottel

    Other
        Other sonneteers
        Text facsimiles
        A Defence of Poesie
        General Notes
        Valentine poems
        Archive
        Picture Gallery
        Carriers Cosmography

sonnetXLII

That thou hast her it is not all my grief,
And yet it may be said I loved her dearly;
That she hath thee is of my wailing chief,
A loss in love that touches me more nearly.
Loving offenders thus I will excuse ye:
Thou dost love her, because thou know'st I love her;
And for my sake even so doth she abuse me,
Suffering my friend for my sake to approve her.
If I lose thee, my loss is my love's gain,
And losing her, my friend hath found that loss;
Both find each other, and I lose both twain,
And both for my sake lay on me this cross:
   But here's the joy; my friend and I are one;
   Sweet flattery! then she loves but me alone.