The Poetry Corner

The Sonnets XCIV - They that have power to hurt, and will do none

By William Shakespeare

They that have power to hurt, and will do none, That do not do the thing they most do show, Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow; They rightly do inherit heavens graces, And husband natures riches from expense; They are the lords and owners of their faces, Others, but stewards of their excellence. The summers flower is to the summer sweet, Though to itself, it only live and die, But if that flower with base infection meet, The basest weed outbraves his dignity: For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.