William Shakespeare - Playwright - Poem's and Sonnet's | Sonnet 153: Cupid Laid By His Brand And Fell Asleep

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Sonnet 153:

Cupid Laid By His Brand And Fell Asleep

Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep:

A maid of Dian's this advantage found,

And his love – kindling fire did quickly steep

In a cold valley – fountain of that ground;

Which borrowed from this holy fire of Love,

A dateless lively heat, still to endure,

And grew a seething bath, which yet men prove

Against strange maladies a sovereign cure.

But at my mistress' eye Love's brand new – fired,

The boy for trial needs would touch my breast;

I, sick withal, the help of bath desired,

And thither hied, a sad distempered guest,

But found no cure, the bath for my help lies

Where Cupid got new fire; my mistress' eyes.

Sonnet 153: Translation to modern English

Cupid set his torch aside and fell asleep. A maid who served Diana took advantage and quickly immersed his love – inducing fire in a cold spring nearby. The spring borrowed heat from this holy fire of love and became an eternal, hot, bubbling bath which men still regard as a universal cure for illness. But, with one look from my mistress, Cupid's torch flared up again and he tested it by touching my heart with it. Lovesick, I needed the bath to cure me of it so I hurried there, a sad, sick visitor, but I found no cure: the bath was of no help – the only thing that could work was the one thing that gave Cupid his new fire – a glance from my mistress's eye.

Modern English Translation from: No Sweat Shakespeare

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