Sonnet 146: Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth

Portrait of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare 1564–1616
146The Sonnets

Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth, My sinful earth these rebel powers array, Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth, Painting thy outward walls so costly gay? Why so large cost, having so short a lease, Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend? Shall worms, inheritors of this excess, Eat up thy charge? is this thy body's end? Then soul live thou upon thy servant's loss, And let that pine to aggravate thy store; Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross; Within be fed, without be rich no more. So shall thou feed on Death, that feeds on men, And Death once dead, there's no more dying then.

Keep reading

Discover more of William Shakespeare’s poetry.

Explore all poems

Readers

Reader discussion

Your turn

Shown with your comment.

Never published. Only so we can reach you.

Comments are read before they appear. See our terms.