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Sonnet 146

Original Text

Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth, My sinful earth these rebel powers array, Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth, Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?

Modern English

Poor soul — the center of this sinful body, besieged by these rebellious physical forces — why do you starve and suffer on the inside while lavishing so much on painting up these outer walls?

Original Text

Why so large cost, having so short a lease, Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend? Shall worms, inheritors of this excess, Eat up thy charge? Is this thy body’s end?

Modern English

Why spend so much on a house with such a short lease? Why pour such wealth into a mansion that is already fading? In the end, worms will inherit everything you've adorned. Is that what the body amounts to?

Original Text

Then soul, live thou upon thy servant’s loss, And let that pine to aggravate thy store; Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross; Within be fed, without be rich no more:

Modern English

Then, soul — live and grow rich on what the body loses. Let the body waste away; use that to build your store. Trade hours of worthless pleasure for something eternal. Feed inwardly; stop making the outside wealthy.

Original Text

So shall thou feed on Death, that feeds on men, And Death once dead, there’s no more dying then.

Modern English

This way, you'll feed on Death — the thing that feeds on men — and once Death is dead, there is no more dying.

Shakespeare's Sonnets

Sonnet 146

Sonnet 146