O, call not me to justify the wrong
That thy unkindness lays upon my heart
Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue;
Use power with power, and slay me not by art.
Tell me thou lov’st elsewhere, but in my sight,
Dear heart forbear to glance thine eye aside;
What need’st thou wound with cunning when thy might
Is more than my o’erpressed defence can bide?
Let me excuse thee: “Ah, my love well knows,
Her pretty looks have been mine enemies,
And therefore from my face she turns my foes,
That they elsewhere might dart their injuries.”
Yet do not so; but since I am near slain,
Kill me outright with looks and rid my pain.
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