Sonnet 119

INFIDELITY

Sonnet 119: What potions have I drunk of Siren tears

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,
Distill'd from lymbecks foul as hell within,
Applying fears to hopes, and hopes to fears, 
Still losing when I saw myself to win!
What wretched errors hath my heart committed,
Whilst it hath thought itself so blessed never!
How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted
In the distraction of this madding fever!
O benefit of ill! now I find true
That better is by evil still made better;
And ruin'd love, when it is built anew,
Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater.
So I return rebuk'd to my content, 
And gain by ills thrice more than I have spent.

The Artist: Ed Hicks

Ed Hicks was in the photorealist pioneers 54 Crew from 2002, and has been a constant fixture within London’s street art scene since 2005. His work consists of large non-figurative paintings evoking the sublime landscapes of the mid gothic period.

Fire, brimstone, sunsets and eruptions, shot through with illumination. The work stands oddly apart from what most do today as reaction against the ubiquity of post-modern pop iconography.