Shakespeare's Sonnets Translation Sonnet 102
My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming; I love not less, though less the show appear. That love is merchandised whose rich esteeming The owner’s tongue doth publish everywhere. Our love was new, and then but in the spring, When I was wont to greet it with my lays, As Philomel in summer’s front doth sing, And stops his pipe in growth of riper days. Not that the summer is less pleasant now Than when her mournful hymns did hush the night, But that wild music burthens every bough, And sweets grown common lose their dear delight. Therefore, like her, I sometime hold my tongue, Because I would not dull you with my song.
My love is stronger, although it seems weaker;
I don't love less, though my love shows less.
Love is made commercial when its high esteem
Is publicized everywhere by its owner.
Our love was new, and then in the springtime,
When I was inclined to celebrate it with my poems,
As a nightingale sings in the beginning of summer,
And stops to do so when summer advances towards fall.
Not that the summer is less pleasant now
Than when she silenced the night with her sad songs,
But now every branch is weighed down with wild music,
And sweet expensive things have lost their appeal by becoming cheap.
Therefore, like the nightingale, I sometimes stay silent,
Because I wouldn't like to bore you with my song.
