Yellowhammer likes a slice of Shakespeare, and is grateful to have had a few key plays included in school education. I once heard a snobby academic on the Radio saying the sonnets were for teenagers, and yes, they can be a bit angsty and existentialist, but given that Harry Potter is now considered literature for adults, then the sonnets are the most relevant display of bitesize brilliance for the broken hearted - and those unable to concentrate for longer than 10 minutes..
This one contains a mixture of medicinal (physic, salve, cure) , biblical (repent, cross) and weather (clouds, storm, rain) imagery.
I also like the quick turnaround at the end with the rhyming couplet - Phew cos I thought that someone was definitely chucked !
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke?
'Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break,
To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face,
For no man well of such a salve can speak,
That heals the wound, and cures not the disgrace:
Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief;
Though thou repent, yet I have still the loss:
The offender's sorrow lends but weak relief
To him that bears the strong offence's cross.
Ah! but those tears are pearl which thy love sheds,
And they are rich and ransom all ill deeds.
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