Sonnet 125
Were 't aught to me I bore the canopy,
ceremony
simplicity
love
politics
Were 't aught to me I bore the canopy,
With my extern the outward honouring,
Or laid great bases for eternity,
Which prove more short than waste or ruining?
Have I not seen dwellers on form and favour
Lose all, and more, by paying too much rent,
For compound sweet forgoing simple savour,
Pitiful thrivers, in their gazing spent?
No, let me be obsequious in thy heart,
And take thou my oblation, poor but free,
Which is not mix'd with seconds, knows no art,
But mutual render, only me for thee.
Hence, thou suborn'd informer! a true soul
When most impeach'd stands least in thy control.
What It Means
Shakespeare asks: does it help at all if I carry the ceremonial canopy at great events, if I pay tribute to external glory, if I build monuments to passing things? No. He's done with external grandeur. He wants the simple thing: to give and receive in the direct line. External ceremony is for those with political interests. He just wants the exchange of love.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence. The canopy reference is specific — it was a ceremonial act at court or at funerals. Some scholars read this as Shakespeare rejecting patronage politics.
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