SONNET 95	PARAPHRASE
How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame	How sweet you make your shameful behavior,
Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose	which, like a canker on a rose,
Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name!	creates a blemish to your name!
O in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose!	O how innocent looking are your sins!
That tongue that tells the story of thy days,	The gossip that talks of you,
Making lascivious comments on thy sport,	spreading indecent words of your behavior,
Cannot dispraise, but in a kind of praise -	cannot make it stick, because in mentioning you,
Naming thy name blesses an ill report.	your name blesses anything said about you.
O what a mansion have those vices got	O how much room do your faults have,
Which for their habitation chose out thee,	living inside of you,
Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot,	where your beauty hides them,
And all things turns to fair that eyes can see.	and beautifies all your flaws.
Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege:	But be careful, my love, of this privilege:
The hardest knife ill-used doth lose his edge.	The sharpest knife abused becomes dull.