Sonnet 109
O, never say that I was false of heart,
fidelity
absence
return
love
O, never say that I was false of heart,
Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify.
As easy might I from myself depart
As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie:
That is my home of love: if I have ranged,
Like him that travels I return again,
Just to the time, not with the time exchanged,
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.
What It Means
Shakespeare defends himself against an accusation of inconstancy. He went away, but his heart never left. The 'universe' he wandered was nothing — the center is here, in the young man. Anyone else he met was a distraction. He returns with renewed appreciation for what he has: the best of what exists.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence. Shakespeare seems to be returning after some absence or apparent neglect of the relationship.
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