The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action: and till action, lust
Is perjur’d, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as a swallow’d bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest, to have extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos’d; behind a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
In plain English
Lust in action is a waste of the spirit and a cause of shame. Before you act on it, lust is deceitful, violent, cruel, and dangerous—something you cannot trust. The moment you satisfy it, you despise it. You hunt for it beyond reason, and the moment you have it, you hate it just as much, like swallowing poisoned bait meant to drive you crazy.
Whether you're chasing it or caught in it, the obsession is extreme. It feels like bliss while you're in the act, but becomes agony once it's over. Before you get it, it seems like joy; after, it feels like a dream that never was. Everyone knows this about lust, yet nobody can actually resist the heavenly feeling that pulls them toward this hellish end.
