1 Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Love is my sin, and your virtue is hate, My sin is loving you, and you call that virtue - it's hate, my love's my sin yr hate's virtue
2 Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving,
Hate of my sin, rooted in sinful loving, You hate my sin, which comes from loving you, u hate my sin made by loving u
3 O but with mine, compare thou thine own state,
But compare your state with mine, But compare your situation to mine, compare yr state to mine
4 And thou shalt find it merits not reproving,
And you will find it doesn't deserve judgment, And you'll see yours doesn't deserve criticism, urs deserves no judgment
5 Or if it do, not from those lips of thine,
Or if it does deserve judgment, not from those lips of yours, And if it does, not from your mouth, not from ur lips
6 That have profaned their scarlet ornaments,
That have desecrated their scarlet beauty, Those lips that have misused their beauty, lips that betrayed what they were Wordplay: “scarlet ornaments”
Her lips, stained red with shame and kisses—a visual emblem of her betrayals.
7 And sealed false bonds of love as oft as mine,
And made false love-promises just as often as I have, And made false love-promises just like me, sealed false love bonds like me
8 Robbed others’ beds’ revenues of their rents.
Stealing from others' marriages their rightful rewards. And cheated on other people's partners, cheated on other people too
Volta The volta shifts from the indictment ('you are as guilty as I') to a bargain ('let me love you as you love others') and a final logical trap ('your denial will prove your hypocrisy').
9 Be it lawful I love thee as thou lov’st those,
So allow me to love you as much as you love other people, So let me chase you the same way you chase other people, let me love u like u love them
10 Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee,
Whom your eyes court as mine beg you, The ones your eyes pursue like I'm pursuing you, like u pursue them
11 Root pity in thy heart that when it grows,
Plant compassion in your heart so that when it grows, Put some pity in your heart so when it grows, plant pity in yr heart
12 Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.
Your pity itself may deserve to be pitied. Your pity itself might deserve sympathy, yr pity deserves pity
13 If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,
If you seek to have what you hide, If you want what you're hiding from, if u want what u hide
14 By self-example mayst thou be denied.
Your own example might deny you what you want. Your own actions might deny you what you want, yr own actions deny u