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Shakespeare in modern English

Shakespeare's Sonnet 109

Shakespeare's words beside a plain modern version, line by line. Free to read.

O! never say that I was false of heart,Though absence seem’d my flame to qualify,As easy might I from my self departAs from my soul which in thy breast doth lie:That is my home of love: if I have rang’d,Like him that travels, I return again;Just to the time, not with the time exchang’d,So that myself bring water for my stain.Never believe though in my nature reign’d,All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood,That it could so preposterously be stain’d,To leave for nothing all thy sum of good;For nothing this wide universe I call,Save thou, my rose, in it thou art my all.

Never say that I was unfaithful at heart, though absence seemed to cool my passion. I could as easily leave myself as leave my soul, which lives in your heart. That is my home of love. If I have wandered, I return again like a traveler, faithful to the appointed time, not changed by changing times, so that I myself bring water to wash away my stain. Never believe that, even if my nature were ruled by all the weaknesses that trouble every kind of person, it could be so absurdly corrupted as to abandon all your goodness for nothing. For I call this whole wide universe nothing except for you, my rose; within it, you are everything to me.

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Questions about this sonnet

Is the modern version the whole text?

Yes. Every line of the sonnet is here in plain modern English, in the same order, beside Shakespeare's own words.