Shakespeare's Sonnet 111

O! for my sake do you with Fortune chide,The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,That did not better for my life provideThan public means which public manners breeds.Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,And almost thence my nature is subdu’dTo what it works in, like the dyer’s hand:Pity me, then, and wish I were renew’d;Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink,Potions of eisel ’gainst my strong infection;No bitterness that I will bitter think,Nor double penance, to correct correction.Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye,Even that your pity is enough to cure me.

For my sake, argue with Fortune, the goddess responsible for my harmful deeds, who provided me with no better way to live than working before the public, which breeds vulgar habits. That is why my name is branded with shame, and why my nature has nearly taken on the color of my work, like a cloth dyer’s hand. Pity me, then, and wish that I could be made new. Meanwhile, like a willing patient, I will drink doses of vinegar to fight my severe infection. I will consider no bitterness too bitter, nor object to double punishment to make the correction complete. Pity me, then, dear friend, and I promise you that your pity alone is enough to cure me.