Sonnet 148
O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head,
perception
desire
eyes
tears
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 vex'd 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.
What It Means
Love has installed defective eyes in Shakespeare's head. They can't see what others see. Or maybe everyone else has bad eyes. Maybe love is making him see clearly after all, and the world is wrong. He cries — and that blurs his vision further. The weeping proves both that he sees clearly enough to know his situation and that the sight of it is unbearable.
Context
Part of the Dark Lady sequence.
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