00472--IGNITED MINDS: UNLEASHING THE POWER WITHIN INDIA / APJ ABDUL KALAM /PENGUIN BOOKS /BOOK REVIEW /SUMMARY


TITLE: IGNITED MINDS: UNLEASHING THE POWER WITHIN INDIA
AUTHOR: APJ ABDUL KALAM
PUBLISHER:PENGUIN BOOKS






APJ Abdul Kalam's book Ignited Minds is but the reflection of the mind of a great visionary and humanist. The very name of APJ has now become the synonym for optimism and hope. If one looks deeper it is love that makes him dream for us. This book is the manifestation of positive energy, and as you move along with Kalam you realise that the annihilation of negative energy is happening. There is perfect harmony between the author and his work; a great author and a great work. It is said that Johnson the man was greater than Johnson the writer. But Shakespeare's works are great in themselves. Here Kalam's work Ignited minds is great in itself.

In the preface Kalam writes: “This book is all about breaking away from the forces that would prefer us to remain a nation of a billion people selling cheap labour and raw materials and providing a large market for goods and services of other nations.” He continues, As it is said, Thinking is the capital, Enterprise is the way, Hard work is the solution.” Kalam himself tells us about the style of writing he used in the book and in a way justifies that the message which needs to be conveyed requires such a style. He writes: “ You will find in this book plain speaking: Surge ahead as a developed nation or perish in perpetual poverty, subservient to a few countries that control the world politically and economically.”

The book is divided into nine chapters:
1.The Dream and the Message,
2. Give Us a Role Model,
3. Visionary Teachers and Scientists,
4. Learning from Saints and Seers,
5.Patriotism beyond Politics and Religion,
6. The Knowledge Society,
7. Getting the Forces Together,
8. Building a New State, and,
9. To My Countrymen.

The Dream and the Message

On 30 September 2001, Kalam was on his way to Bokaro from Ranchi in Jharkhand and the helicopter carrying him crashed just before landing, but all the passengers escaped miraculously. Despite the incident Kalam went ahead with his programme. At night he took a tranquillizer as the doctors persuaded him to do so. The drug made him sleep longer though he woke up at night and fell into a dream like thought; a thought that was centred on the humanity. Five great men took part in that thought process and they spoke out their minds. Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Emperor Asoka, Abraham Lincoln and Caliph Omar were these great men. Each of them shared their views on humanity in general and as their importance that spreads beyond their time and social context these views sound universal.

Kalam discusses different stages in one's life:
  1. athlete stage,
  2. warrior stage,
  3. states-person stage, and,
  4. spirit age.
These stages in a man's life is also applicable to a state. Kalam logically describes how a nation passes through these stages. It is amusing that he calls himself a rocket man! Here he narrates his journey as a rocket man living these stages one by one (being in his fourth stage). He would like to converse with the school children for he believes they are tomorrow's India. He ends the chapter saying,”How can we make up for missed opportunities and the failures of the past?

Give Us a Role Model

India is spiritual and the west is materialistic, Kalam believes that the progress of the developed nations is due to their way of thinking that they must live a good life in a strong and prosperous nation . He emphasises the need for change in India's way of thinking which views wealth and progress as opposite to virtue and spirituality. "I do not think that abundance and spirituality are mutually exclusive or that it is wrong to desire material things."  One can lead a life of asceticism but this should be out of choice and not because one is forced to do so.  "This was the basis of my decision to contact our young. To know their dreams and tell them that it is perfectly all right to  dream of a good life..."

Kalam met students in Tripura, and their question was that where do they get a role model from.  Father, mother and school teacher are the first role models for an individual, Kalam explains his this notion with examples.  'Why dream?' was another question asked to Kalam referring to his book Wings of Fire.  'Dream transforms into thoughts.  Thought result in actions', was his reply.   


Visionary Leaders and Scientists


Kalam shares with us his thoughts about some ancient mathematicians like  Aryabhata, Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya.  Great minds like Srinivasa Ramanujan, Prof.  S.  Chandrasekhar, C.V. Raman and others are also brought before us.  Dr. D.S.Kothari, Dr. Homi.J.Bhaabha and Dr.Vikram Sarabhai are portrayed here as great visionary scientists.  They are the founders of three great institutions--DRDO, DAE and ISRO.  There is a beautiful incident in the book narrated even more beautifully by Kalam, which describes how Dr. Bhabha met the Bishop and got the consent for acquiring the land where the church building stood as part of establishing the space research station in Thumba.     He ends this as follows ;  In the Sunday morning service the Bishop told the congregation, "My children I have a famous scientist with me who wants our church and the place I live for the work of space science and research.  Science seeks truth that enriches human life.[...] Children can we give them God's abode for a scientific mission?"  'There was silence for a while followed by a hearty "Amen" from the congregation which made the whole church reverberate.'  


Learning from Saints and Seers

The fusion of science and spirituality according to Kalam will do good for the humanity.  He had a detailed discussion with Pramukh Swami Maharaj of Swaminarayan Sanstha at Ahmedabad regarding this fusion, and the vision we should have as a nation.  He made several visits to different spirtual centres of India and sought for solutions.  Kalam Summarises this chapter; 'Our spiritual wisdom has been our strength.  We survived as a nation the onslaughts of invaders and the numbing effects of colonialism. [...] But in the process of all the adjustment, we also lowered our aims and expectations. We must regain our broad outlook and draw upon our heritage and wisdom to enrich our lives. [...] We need to home-grow our own model of development based on our inherent strengths.  


   Patriotism beyond Politics and Religion

"For great men,"  Kalam writes, "religion is a way of making friends; small people make religion a fighting tool."   The answer Kalam gives to a student at Anna University for the question that deals with Dr. Amartya Sen's stance against India's nuclear programme is logical and convncing.  Kalam asks,  "But after the long independence struggle when we got our freedom and the country got united and has physical boundaries, is it possible to remain with economic prosperity as the only goal?"     Patriotism must not be polluted by religion or politics.  



Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw said “Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.”   I was aware of this definition for a long time, and so when coming across Kalam's remarks on patriotism I paused for a while.  Kalam, I believe, thinks not of being superior to any other nations  but of being NOT inferior to.  Shaw is ideal but Kalam is practical. Shaw wrote books while Kalam made missiles.  In fact Kalam has writen books that are being sold well.  Hitler too was a patriot.  But it is obvious that Kalam is different kind of a patriot. Shaw excluded the good ones though he (Shaw) was a vegetarian. 



Kalam observes; "The greatest danger to our sense of unity and our sense of purpose comes from those ideologists who seek to divide the people. [...] It is when we accept India in all its splendid glory that, with a shared past as a base, we can look forward to a shared future of peace and prosperity, of creation and abundance. our past is there with us forever.  It has to be nurtured in good faith, not destroyed in excercises of political one-upmanship."

The Knowledge Society

In the twenty-first century capital and labour are replaced by knowledge as the primary production resource.  For Kalam a very important mission for India is to become a knowledge super power.  Ancient India was more than anything else a knowledge society, and naturally it fostered civilization.  Today India should regain the lost status of being a nation and civilization founded on knowledge.  


Getting the Forces Together



Kalam writes; " In India 2020 we have identified five areas where India has a core competence for integrated action."   These five areas are;
1.  agriculture and food processing,
2.  power,
3.  education and healthcare,
4.  information technology, and,
5.  strategic sector.

On 15 October 2000 a website was launched for Kalam.  He posted three questions; 

1)  India has been a developing country for more than half a century.  What would you as young boys and girls like to do to make it a developed India?

2)  When can I sing a song of India?

3)  Why do we love anything foreign in spite of our capabilities in many fields, whereas other countries celebrate their own successes?

From more than a hundred answers he received he discusses five answers.  The fifth answer is what the 30 per cent of the respondents said; 'the need for  greater transparency in various facets of our lives.'   This chapter is rich with the narration of incidents Kalam has had in his life. 


Building a New State


Kalam in this chapter shares an incident which shows the power of human mind.  He was to submit the design drawings for a project on designing a low-level attack aircraft.  But Kalam got delayed by more than two weeks in submitting his drawings.  Dr. Srinivasan was the Director of Madras Institute of Technology, and he realizing that Kalam was nowhere near completion of the drawing told Kalam that if he did not complete the work in three days his scholarship would be stopped.  Kalam was fully depending upon the scholarship, for the cost of education at MIT was high.  For the next three days he went out only for food and at night slept on a bench in the college.  Exactly after three days Dr.Srinivasan visited Kalam's drawing board.  He spent an hour examining what Kalam had done and said, "This is good.  You have performed a few weeks' work in a few days."   Kalam writes; Coming from, it was a great compliment. [...] I realized then that if something is at stake, the human mind gets ignited and working capacity gets enhanced manifold.


Building a new state must be carried out in a mission mode.  


To My Countrymen


I think it will be appropriate to include this chapter in the syllabuses of all Indian Universities and schools. He ends this chapter as follows:



"And to God the Almighty!  Make my people sweat.  Let their toil create many more Agnis that can annihilate evil. Let my country prosper in peace.  Let my people live in harmony.  Let me go to dust as a proud citizen of India, to rise again and rejoice in its glory."

END









00471--SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR
The little Love-god lying once asleep,
Laid by his side his heart-inflaming brand,
Whilst many nymphs that vowed chaste life to keep,
Came tripping by, but in her maiden hand,
The fairest votary took up that fire,
Which many legions of true hearts had warmed,
And so the general of hot desire,
Was sleeping by a virgin hand disarmed.
This brand she quenched in a cool well by,
Which from Love's fire took heat perpetual,
Growing a bath and healthful remedy,
For men discased, but I my mistress' thrall,
Came there for cure and this by that I prove,
Love's fire heats water, water cools not love.

00470--SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR
Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep,
A maid of Dian's this advantage found,
And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep
In a cold valley-fountain of that ground:
Which borrowed from this holy fire of Love,
A dateless lively heat still to endure,
And grew a seeting bath which yet men prove,
Against strange maladies a sovereign cure:
But at my mistress' eye Love's brand new-fired,
The boy for trial needs would touch my breast,
I sick withal the help of bath desired,
And thither hied a sad distempered guest.
But found no cure, the bath for my help lies,
Where Cupid got new fire; my mistress' eyes.

00469--SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY TWO / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY TWO
In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn,
But thou art twice forsworn to me love swearing,
In act thy bed-vow broke and new faith torn,
In vowing new hate after new love bearing:
But why of two oaths' breach do I accuse thee,
When I break twenty? I am perjured most,
For all my vows are oaths but to misuse thee:
And all my honest faith in thee is lost.
For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness:
Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy,
And to enlighten thee gave eyes to blindness,
Or made them swear against the thing they see.
For I have sworn thee fair: more perjured I,
To swear against the truth so foul a be.

00468--SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY ONE / SHAKES;EARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY ONE
Love is too young to know what conscience is,
Yet who knows not conscience is born of love?
Then gentle cheater urge not my amiss,
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove.
For thou betraying me, I do betray
My nobler part to my gross body's treason,
My soul doth tell my body that he may,
Triumph in love, flesh stays no farther reason,
But rising at thy name doth point out thee,
As his triumphant prize, proud of this pride,
He is contented thy poor drudge to be,
To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.
No want of conscience hold it that I call,
Her love, for whose dear love I rise and fall.

00467--SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FIFTY
O from what power hast thou this powerful might,
With insufficiency my heart to sway,
To make me give the lie to my true sight,
And swear that brightness doth not grace the day?
Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill,
That in the very refuse of thy deeds,
There is such strength and warrantise of skill,
That in my mind thy worst all best exceeds?
Who taught thee how to make me love thee more,
The more I hear and see just cause of hate?
O though I love what others do abhor,
With others thou shouldst not abhor my state.
If thy unworthiness raised love in me,
More worthy I to be beloved of thee.

00466--SONNET HUNDRED FORTY NINE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED FORTY NINE
Canst thou O cruel, say I love thee not,
When I against my self with thee partake?
Do I not think on thee when I forgot
Am of my self, all-tyrant, for thy sake?
Who hateth thee that I do call my friend,
On whom frown'st thou that I do fawn upon,
Nay if thou lour'st on me do I not spend
Revenge upon my self with present moan?
What merit do I in my self respect,
That is so proud thy service to despise,
When all my best doth worship thy defect,
Commanded by the motion of thine eyes?
But love hate on for now I know thy mind,
Those that can see thou lov'st, and I am blind.

00465--SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT / SONNETS

SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT
O me! what eyes hath love put in my head,
Which have no correspondence with true sight,
Or if they have, where is my judgment fled,
That censures falsely what they see aright?
If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote,
What means the world to say it is not so?
If it be not, then love doth well denote,
Love's eye is not so true as all men's: no,
How can it? O how can love's eye be true,
That is so vexed with watching and with tears?
No marvel then though I mistake my view,
The sun it self sees not, till heaven clears.
O cunning love, with tears thou keep'st me blind,
Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul faults should find.

00464--SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY SEVEN / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY SEVEN
My love is as a fever longing still,
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
Th' uncertain sickly appetite to please:
My reason the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve,
Desire is death, which physic did except.
Past cure I am, now reason is past care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unrest,
My thoughts and my discourse as mad men's are,
At random from the truth vainly expressed.
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.

00463--SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX
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.

00462--SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE
Those lips that Love's own hand did make,
Breathed forth the sound that said 'I hate',
To me that languished for her sake:
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet,
Was used in giving gentle doom:
And taught it thus anew to greet:
'I hate' she altered with an end,
That followed it as gentle day,
Doth follow night who like a fiend
From heaven to hell is flown away.
'I hate', from hate away she threw,
And saved my life saying 'not you'.

00461--SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR
Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still,
The better angel is a man right fair:
The worser spirit a woman coloured ill. 
To win me soon to hell my female evil,
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil:
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turned fiend,
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell,
But being both from me both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another's hell.
Yet this shall I ne'er know but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

00460--SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE
Lo as a careful huswife runs to catch,
One of her feathered creatures broke away,
Sets down her babe and makes all swift dispatch
In pursuit of the thing she would have stay:
Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase,
Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent,
To follow that which flies before her face:
Not prizing her poor infant's discontent;
So run'st thou after that which flies from thee,
Whilst I thy babe chase thee afar behind,
But if thou catch thy hope turn back to me:
And play the mother's part, kiss me, be kind.
So will I pray that thou mayst have thy Will,
If thou turn back and my loud crying still.

00459--SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO
Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving,
O but with mine, compare thou thine own state,
And thou shalt find it merits not reproving,
Or if it do, not from those lips of thine,
That have profaned their scarlet ornaments,
And sealed false bonds of love as oft as mine,
Robbed others' beds' revenues of their rents.
Be it lawful I love thee as thou lov'st those,
Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee,
Root pity in thy heart that when it grows,
Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.
If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,
By self-example mayst thou be denied.

00458--SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY ONE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY ONE
In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note,
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who in despite of view is pleased to dote.
Nor are mine cars with thy tongue's tune delighted,
Nor tender feeling to base touches prone,
Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
To any sensual feast with thee alone:
But my five wits, nor my five senses can
Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,
Who leaves unswayed the likeness of a man,
Thy proud heart's slave and vassal wretch to be:
Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
That she that makes me sin, awards me pain.

00457--SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND FORTY
Be wise as thou art cruel, do not press
My tongue-tied patience with too much disdain:
Lest sorrow lend me words and words express,
The manner of my pity-wanting pain.
If I might teach thee wit better it were,
Though not to love, yet love to tell me so,
As testy sick men when their deaths be near,
No news but health from their physicians know.
For if I should despair I should grow mad,
And in my madness might speak ill of thee,
Now this ill-wresting world is grown so bad,
Mad slanderers by mad ears believed be.
That I may not be so, nor thou belied,
Bear thine eyes straight, though thy proud heart go wide.

00456--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE
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.

00455--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY EIGHT / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY EIGHT
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue,
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love, loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

00454--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY SEVEN / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY SEVEN
Thou blind fool Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,
That they behold and see not what they see?
They know what beauty is, see where it lies,
Yet what the best is, take the worst to be.
If eyes corrupt by over-partial looks,
Be anchored in the bay where all men ride,
Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged hooks,
Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied?
Why should my heart think that a several plot,
Which my heart knows the wide world's common place?
Or mine eyes seeing this, say this is not
To put fair truth upon so foul a face?
In things right true my heart and eyes have erred,
And to this false plague are they now transferred.

00453--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX
If thy soul check thee that I come so near,
Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy 'Will',
And will thy soul knows is admitted there,
Thus far for love, my love-suit sweet fulfil.
'Will', will fulfil the treasure of thy love,
Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one,
In things of great receipt with case we prove,
Among a number one is reckoned none.
Then in the number let me pass untold,
Though in thy store's account I one must be,
For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold,
That nothing me, a something sweet to thee.
Make but my name thy love, and love that still,
And then thou lov'st me for my name is Will.

00452--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE
Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy will,
And 'Will' to boot, and 'Will' in over-plus,
More than enough am I that vex thee still,
To thy sweet will making addition thus.
Wilt thou whose will is large and spacious,
Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine?
Shall will in others seem right gracious,
And in my will no fair acceptance shine?
The sea all water, yet receives rain still,
And in abundance addeth to his store,
So thou being rich in will add to thy will
One will of mine to make thy large will more.
Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill,
Think all but one, and me in that one 'Will.'

00451--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY FOUR / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY FOUR
So now I have confessed that he is thine,
And I my self am mortgaged to thy will,
My self 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 learned but surety-like to write for me,
Under that bond that him as fist doth bind.
The statute of thy beauty thou wilt take,
Thou usurer that put'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.

00450--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE
Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
For that deep wound it gives my friend and me;
Is't not enough to torture me alone,
But slave to slavery my sweet'st friend must be?
Me from my self thy cruel eye hath taken,
And my next self thou harder hast engrossed,
Of him, my self, and thee I am forsaken,
A torment thrice three-fold thus to be crossed:
Prison my heart in thy steel bosom's ward,
But then my friend's heart let my poor heart bail,
Whoe'er keeps me, let my heart be his guard,
Thou canst not then use rigour in my gaol.
And yet thou wilt, for I being pent in thee,
Perforce am thine and all that is in me.

00449--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO
Thine eyes I love, and they as pitying me,
Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain,
Have put on black, and loving mourners be,
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain.
And truly not the morning sun of heaven
Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east,
Nor that full star that ushers in the even
Doth half that glory to the sober west
As those two mourning eyes become thy face:
O let it then as well beseem thy heart
To mourn for me since mourning doth thee grace,
And suit thy pity like in every part.
Then will I swear beauty herself is black,
And all they foul that thy complexion lack.

00448--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE
Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;
For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.
Yet in good faith some say that thee behold,
Thy face hath not the power to make love groan;
To say they err, I dare not be so bold,
Although I swear it to my self alone.
And to be sure that is not false I swear,
A thousand groans but thinking on thy face,
One on another's neck do witness bear
Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place.
In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds,
And thence this slander as I think proceeds.

00447--SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND THIRTY
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun,
Coral is far more red, than her lips red,
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun:
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head:
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight,
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know,
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet by heaven I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.

00446--SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY NINE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY NINE
Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action, and till action, lust
Is perjured, murd'rous, bloody full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had
Past reason hated as a swallowed 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 proposed behind a dream.
All this the world well knows yet none knows well,
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

00445--SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY EIGHT / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY EIGHT
How oft when thou, my music, music play'st,
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway'st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap,
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilst my poor lips which should that harvest reap,
At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand.
To be so tickled they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more blest than living lips,
Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.

00444--SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN
In the old age black was not counted fair,
Or if it were it bore not beauty's name:
But now is black beauty's successive heir,
And beauty slandered with a bastard shame,
For since each hand hath put on nature's power,
Fairing the foul with art's false borrowed face,
Sweet beauty hath no name no holy bower,
But is profaned, if not lives in disgrace.
Therefore my mistress' eyes are raven black,
Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem,
At such who not born fair no beauty lack,
Slandering creation with a false esteem,
Yet so they mourn becoming of their woe,
That every tongue says beauty should look so.

00443--SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX
O thou my lovely boy who in thy power,
Dost hold Time's fickle glass his fickle hour:
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st,
Thy lovers withering, as thy sweet self grow'st.
If Nature (sovereign mistress over wrack)
As thou goest onwards still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
May time disgrace, and wretched minutes kill.
Yet fear her O thou minion of her pleasure,
She may detain, but not still keep her treasure!
Her audit (though delayed) answered must be,
And her quietus is to render thee.

00442--SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE
Were't aught to me I bore the canopy,
With my extern the outward honouring,
Or laid great bases for eternity,
Which proves more short than waste or ruining?
Have I not seen dwellers on form and favour
Lose all, and more by paying too much rent
For compound sweet; forgoing simple savour,
Pitiful thrivers in their gazing spent?
No, let me be obsequious in thy heart,
And take thou my oblation, poor but free,
Which is not mixed with seconds, knows no art,
But mutual render, only me for thee.
Hence, thou suborned informer, a true soul
When most impeached, stands least in thy control.

00441--SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY FOUR / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY FOUR
If my dear love were but the child of state,
It might for Fortune's bastard be unfathered,
As subject to time's love or to time's hate,
Weeds among weeds, or flowers with flowers gathered.
No it was builded far from accident,
It suffers not in smiling pomp, nor falls
Under the blow of thralled discontent,
Whereto th' inviting time our fashion calls:
It fears not policy that heretic,
Which works on leases of short-numbered hours,
But all alone stands hugely politic,
That it nor grows with heat, nor drowns with showers.
To this I witness call the fools of time,
Which die for goodness, who have lived for crime.

00440--SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE / SHAKESPEARE

SONNET HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE
No! Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change,
Thy pyramids built up with newer might
To me are nothing novel, nothing strange,
They are but dressings Of a former sight:
Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire,
What thou dost foist upon us that is old,
And rather make them born to our desire,
Than think that we before have heard them told:
Thy registers and thee I both defy,
Not wond'ring at the present, nor the past,
For thy records, and what we see doth lie,
Made more or less by thy continual haste:
This I do vow and this shall ever be,
I will be true despite thy scythe and thee.

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