Sonnet 130

by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ((1564-1616)

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.

William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway had 3 children. Susanna was born in May 1583, 6 months after the wedding. In 1585, the couple were blessed with twins, Hamnet and Judith.