Shakespeare's Sonnets Translation Sonnet 24
Mine eye hath played the painter and hath steeled Thy beauty’s form in table of my heart. My body is the frame wherein ’tis held, And pérspective it is best painter’s art. For through the painter must you see his skill To find where your true image pictured lies, Which in my bosom’s shop is hanging still, That hath his windows glazèd with thine eyes. Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done: Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me Are windows to my breast, wherethrough the sun Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee. Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art; They draw but what they see, know not the heart.
My eyes have acted as a painter, and have fixed
The form of your beauty in the canvas of my heart.
My body is the frame in which it is held,
And perspective is the skill of the best painter.
You have to look from his viewpoint to see his skill,
To find the picture of your true appearance,
Which is still hanging in my heart's workshop,
And your eyes have become its windows.
Now see what good favors my eyes have done yours:
My eyes have drawn your shape, and your eyes for me
Are windows into my heart, and the sun
Enjoys peeping through, in order to see you.
But eyes lack this skill to adorn their art;
They can only draw what they see, they do not see the heart.