Shakespeare's Sonnets Translation Sonnet 148
O me! what eyes hath love put in my head, Which have no correspondence with true sight! Or, if they have, where is my judgment fled, That censures falsely what they see aright? If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote, What means the world to say it is not so? If it be not, then love doth well denote Love’s eye is not so true as all men’s: no, How can it? O how can love’s eye be true, That is so vexed with watching and with tears? No marvel then, though I mistake my view; The sun itself sees not till heaven clears. O cunning love! With tears thou keep’st me blind, Lest eyes well seeing thy foul faults should find.
Oh! What kind of eyes has love put into my head,
Which have no correspondence with what is truly there!
Or, if they do, where has my judgment gone,
So that I judge as false what they see correctly?
If the thing that my false eyes dote upon is beautiful,
Why does the world say that it is not so?
If it is not, then love does improve what it sees
Love's eye is not as accurate as everyone else's: No,
How can it be? Oh, how can love's eye be true,
When it is so irritated from staying up and crying?
No wonder, then, that I see inaccurately;
The sun itself does not see until the sky clears up.
Oh clever love! You keep me blind with tears,
In case the eyes, seeing accurately, find your foul flaws.
