Sonnet · Dark Lady Sonnets

Sonnet 134

So, now I have confess’d that he is thine,

And I my self am mortgag’d to thy will,

Myself I’ll forfeit, so that other mine

Thou wilt restore to be my comfort still:

But thou wilt not, nor he will not be free,

For thou art covetous, and he is kind;

He learn’d but surety-like to write for me,

Under that bond that him as fast doth bind.

The statute of thy beauty thou wilt take,

Thou usurer, that putt’st forth all to use,

And sue a friend came debtor for my sake;

So him I lose through my unkind abuse.

Him have I lost; thou hast both him and me:

He pays the whole, and yet am I not free.

What it's about

The speaker admits total defeat in a triangle of desire and obligation. He's pledged himself to the Dark Lady to win back his friend—but she refuses the bargain. The friend, bound by loyalty, remains trapped. The sonnet ends in a legal deadlock: everyone pays, nobody escapes.

In plain English

I've admitted he belongs to you now. I've made myself your debtor, offering myself as security if you'll just give him back to comfort me. But you won't release him, and he won't ask to leave—you're too greedy, and he's too decent. He signed on as my guarantor, which only trapped him tighter under your claim.

You treat beauty like a loan contract, wringing profit from every bond. You sued my friend for a debt he took on for my sake. Through my own reckless behavior, I've lost him to you. You own both of us now, and even though he's paying everything, I'm still not free.

Lines that stick

  • So, now I have confess'd that he is thine
  • Thou usurer, that putt'st forth all to use
  • Thou hast both him and me

Themes

  • betrayal
  • debt and obligation
  • jealousy
  • powerlessness
  • friend-rival
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