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Song 8/8 Sonnet No. 142 (1590-1595) Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate
This is the last song 8/8 in the Song-cycle: SHAKESPEARE'S SONNET CIRCUS of Eight Settings of Sonnets by William Shakespeare for Countertenor Solo and Six Baroque Obbligato Instruments: Flûte Traversière, Oboe, Bassoon, Baroque Triple Harp, Theorbo, Harpsichord, and Baroque String Orchestra.
Line 1: A1: Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Line 2: B1: Hate of my sin grounded on sinful loving.
Line 3: A2: O, but with mine compare thou thine own state,
Line 4: B2: And thou shalt find it merits not reproving;
Line 5: C1: Or if it do, not from those lips of thine
Line 6: D1: That have profaned their scarlet ornaments
Line 7: C2: And sealed false bonds of love as oft as mine,
Line 8: D2: Robbed others' beds' revenues of their rents.
Line 9: E1: Be it lawful I love thee as thou lov'st those
Line 10: F1: Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee.
Line 11: E2: Root pity in thy heart, that when it grows
Line 12: F2: Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.
Line 13: G1: If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,
Line 14: G2: By self example mayst thou be denied!
N.B. The letters denoting the structure of the Sonnet also denote the rehearsal letters in the Score
Sentiment: This sonnet is the last in "a sequence of four sonnets": 139, 140, 141 and 142 "about the power of a loved one's eyes."
Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells, 'All the Sonnets of Shakespeare', P.68