Thou walkedst in with words so honey-dipped, Yet venom laced thy smile, so wide, so white. A silken voice, but every virtue slipped, For thou wert most in love with thy own light.
Thy praise, at first, did shine like summer gold, Then turned to scorn when I began to bleed. What grand illusions in thy lies I sold, A peasantβs soul made feast for royal greed.
Thou craved a mirror, not a beating heart, A shrine to self, not love in sacred skin. I played the ghost in thy self-fashioned art, While thou adored the mask thou wore within.
Yet truth, like dawn, did tear thy veil in twain I found myself where I was bound by chain.
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin May 2025 To Thee, My Sweet Divine A Shakespearean Sonnet