Sonnet 118

Like as, to make our appetite more keen，

With eager compounds we our palate urge，

As, to prevent our maladies unseen，

We sicken to shun sickness when we purge；

Even so, being full of your ne'er-cloying sweetness，

To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding；

And, sick of welfare, found a kind of meetness

To be diseased, ere that there was true needing.

Thus policy in love, to anticipate

The ills that were not, grew to faults assured，

And brought to medicine a healthful state

Which rank of goodness, would by ill be cured；

But thence I learn and find the lesson true，

Drugs poison him that so feil sick of you.

一一八

好比我们为了促使食欲增进，

用种种辛辣调味品刺激胃口；

又好比服清泻剂以预防大病，

用较轻的病截断重症的根由；

同样，饱尝了你的不腻人的甜蜜，

我选上苦酱来当作我的食料；

厌倦了健康，觉得病也有意思，

尽管我还没有到生病的必要。

这样，为采用先发制病的手段，

爱的策略变成了真实的过失。

我对健康的身体乱投下药丹，

用痛苦来把过度的幸福疗治。

但我由此取得这真正的教训：

药也会变毒，谁若因爱你而生病。