Sonnet 139: O, call not me to justify the wrong

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 defense 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.